| 9. Police |
 |
Structure
The central police administration is under the authority of
the National Public Safety Commission (consisting of five members
and headed by a state minister), which has supervisory authority
over the National Police Agency. The agency supervises prefectural
police forces and coordinates their activities. At the prefectural
level the police organization is under the control of a prefectural
public safety commission established to oversee the activities
of the prefectural police under instructions from the prefectural
governor.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and the respective
prefectural police headquarters divide their administrative
areas into police precincts. Each precinct has a police station,
which supervises a number of urban koban (police boxes), staffed
by police on shifts, and rural chuzaisho, where officers live
with their families. As of April 2003, there were 1,269 police
stations and 6,556 koban and 7,882 chuzaisho nationwide.(*1)
Police Officers and Equipment
As of April 2003 Japan had 278,307 police officers, or one for
every 458 people. The metropolitan and prefectural police forces
include about 10,200 women.(*2)
In fiscal year 2002 there were about 35,000 police vehicles
and motorcycles for patrol, investigative, and other activities.
The water police use vessels stationed at ports in remote islands,
rivers and lakes for patrol, search-and-rescue activities, and
investigation and control of drug traffic, smuggling, and environmental
violations. The vessels range from 5-meter boats to 23-meter
vessels. In fiscal year 2002 the total number of police vessels
was about 200.(*3)
Police air bases are located in all 47 prefectures. There were
about 80 police helicopters in fiscal year 2002.(*4) Helicopters
are used for reconnaissance and rescue operations, mountain
search and rescue operations, aerial survey of road traffic,
traffic control, search and arrest of fugitives, survey and
investigation of environmental problems, and other purposes.
|
|
|
Crime
Rate
Japan is no longer the safe society it once was known to be.
Today, there is serious public concern about the growing crime
rate in Japan. The number of reported criminal offenses in 2002
hit a post-war high of 2.85 million, and it continues to grow.
Meanwhile, the arrest rate has fallen to 20%, half the level
of five years ago. That has led to more Japanese worrying about
crime, with the number expressing anxiety jumping from 26% to
41% in five years, according to a survey by the Research Foundation
for Safe Society.(*1)
There are three categories of crime posing an especially serious
threat to public safety in Japan: juvenile crimes, which are
growing in both number and brutality; the rapidly increasing
number of offenses committed by foreigners (*2); and crimes
involving organized groups of gangsters, who are quietly infiltrating
ever deeper into the fabric of society.(*3) The number of juvenile
crimes, for example, rose by 2.3% in 2002 to 141,775, the second
consecutive year of increase.(*4) Reducing these crimes is crucial
to turning around this ever-worsening situation.
Given that the number of citizens per officer in Japan is among
the highest in the developed world (*5), most political parties
have proposed boosting police numbers. The ruling Liberal Democratic
Party envisions a substantial increase in police strength to
ensure that none of the koban or, or police boxes, that dot
Japan go empty. As for fiscal year 2004, the government plans
to increase the number of local police officers by 3,150.(*6)
In response to the growth in crimes involving foreigners, the
Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Metropolitan Police Department
published a joint statement in October 2003, in which they aim
to halve the number of illegal residents in Japan within five
years. According to their estimates, there are approximately
250,000 illegal residents in Japan and about a half of which
are living in the greater Tokyo area.(*7)
|
|
|
| |
|
