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(November 23rd, Japan)
The Shizuoka Police Department announced yesterday that they had punished a low-ranking police officer (巡査) for making a fake 110 call, in which he reported an imaginary crime, in order to avoid going to a real crime scene and doing laborious paperwork . (In Japan, dialing 110 is the equivalent of dialing 911 in the United States).
According to the Shizuoka PD announcement and other sources, in August of this year, Officer D was wracking his brain trying to think of a way to avoid having to go to a messy destruction of property crime scene, inspect the damage, and write up the paperwork. From his own cell-phone he called up his police station and said, “There’s a girl in the park I’m walking through surrounded by four or five tough guys. Help her!”
The police officer sped to the scene of the crime but when a fellow police officer called back the “notifier” (通報者), he was connected to Officer D and all was revealed. The next day Officer D was transferred from the community patrol bureau to the traffic bureau.
The prosecutors filed charges of “obstructing work” against the police officer, who also had his pay reduced to 1/10th for a month. The officer supposedly said he would work very hard to regain the trust of the police force and the public.
Not a comment on this story as such, but I was wondering if you would consider writing an article on the connections on the police and Yakuza and their legal status.
Specifically the idea that the gangs are ‘registered’ with the police as designated crime gangs. I’ve never understood how they can have a kinda semi-legal standing.Surly being designated a crime group, with offices etc would allow the whole group to be shut down/investigated for tax evasion or something.
The designated organized crime groups claim to be “humanitarian organizations”–they’re regulated but illegal. Japan lacks a RICO act which would allow the groups to be dismantled for engaging in organized criminal activity. Yes, it’s very strange.
Well, look at this way–Goldman Sachs and/or its employees have been caught engaging in criminal and/or dubious acts many times, for which the DOJ/SEC either gives them a slap on the wrist or fines them a huge amount (which they can easily pay) and the game goes on.
In Japan, the police are like the SEC and the designated organized crime groups are sort-of like Goldman Sachs with guns and swords. The police “regulate” them and “monitor” them and arrest the members for egregious crimes but the organization is never put out of business.
The SEC, by the way, allegedly shreds all the documents in a failed investigation which the Japanese cops don’t do. The Japanese cops are a lot harder on their adversaries.