You’re walking along the street, minding your own business, thinking your own thoughts; suddenly two policemen confront you and they don’t like your looks. Let rap musician JAKIN tell the story. It’s his; he shares it with Spa (June 18-25), whose subject is “monster police officers.”
It’s June 2023. We’re not told the city’s name but the dialect is Kansai. “You’re groping my crotch!” What for? Chinpake – a drug bag a trafficker conceals in the genital region. From groping the officers proceed, in JAKIN’s account, to sniffing. Naturally. Half measures won’t do in crime detection. But if no crime is being committed? We must unfortunately leave the story hanging, since Spa does. We infer there was no drug bag and the matter ended there. But the episode spurred the magazine to look further into the issue of offended innocence. It happens – more often than it should, which goes without saying since it never should.
“I’m riding my bike one afternoon” – says one respondent to Spa’s survey, a 39-year-old male company employee, “when two officers stop me for ‘questioning.’ They peer into my knapsack, take out my water bottle – ‘a weapon!’ cries one. My mind goes blank, I’m at a loss for words. Then the other officer says, ‘No, it’s all right’ – and it ended there. But I keep thinking, what if the first officer had been alone?”
“I’m driving my car, the police stop me” – this from a 41-year-old female civil servant – ‘your seat belt’s not fastened.’ ‘It is.’ ‘Don’t lie now.’ It went on for 20 minutes” before fizzling out much as the bullying of the cyclist did, with a second officer intervening to defuse the situation. The reader wonders: Is this scripted? A good-cop-bad-cop routine?
A 32-year-old female call center operator tells this story: It was night, a man was following her, she ducked into a koban police station and requested help. The officer heard her out but offered no sympathy. “Well,” she says he said, “wearing a miniskirt like that…” – and so on and so on – “a 30-minute sermon” capped with, “You’re lonely, you have no boyfriend, right? Is that why you walk around alone at night?”
A former Kanagawa Prefecture police officer calling himself Yosshii Bucho (yosshi! is an all-purpose exclamation, bucho means section head, his rank when he retired after 18 years) operates a YouTube program of that name whose theme is police abuse of power (in the installment current at this writing he mentions Spa’s coverage of him). He says he quit the force in frustration over rampant police harassment of innocent people and what he says is systemic encouragement of it. There are quotas to be met – so many arrests to be made, so many suspects brought in for questioning, so many citations to be issued. A point system awards points according to the offenses dealt with – theft, so many points; weapons possession, so many; violence including resisting arrest, so many. Officers falling short are tongue-lashed; worse, denied promotions and bonuses. It’s enough to make a cynic of any young man or woman who joins the force with the sincere intention of serving society.
Absurdities abound, says Yosshi Bucho – one being that so few points are awarded for the apprehension of drunk drivers that an officer smelling alcohol on a motorist’s breath may well let it go, shrugging it off as not worth the bother.
It’s a tense, often ugly world out there. Police have their work cut out for them and it’s often very dirty work indeed. Evil, violence, pain, danger are all part of the daily or nightly routine. How to harden yourself against them while preserving the normal decencies? How to be strong and simultaneously respectful of ordinary people’s weakness? How to stay clean mired in filth?
Maybe any system would crack under such strains – small comfort if truculent, harassed, stressed-out officers confront you in all your innocence (or guilt for that matter). What legal recourse do you have in the event of investigation or interrogation exceeding bounds? Not much, Spa hears from lawyer Koichiro Matsui. “There are so many gray zones,” he says.
Demands for compensation are generally cold-shouldered. Taking your case to court, you entangle yourself in a system which coasts along at its own measured pace; figure “a year or more” before settlement, says Matsui. Court awards, moreover, tend to be small – “a few tens of thousands of yen.” His advice: “Keep irritation in check. Keep calm.” It’ll soon be over.
© Japan Today
32 Comments
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dagon
Only the elderly Japanese readership of Spa is surprised by this.
Foreigners, rappers, those with tattoos and piercings or sub-cultural looks are rolling their eyes at this intro.
bass4funk
Yeah, I stay as far away from the police as I can. Don’t like them and don’t trust them.
Aly Rustom
You and I usually disagree on issues, but on this I back you up 100%
Aly Rustom
It’s a tense, often ugly world out there. Police have their work cut out for them and it’s often very dirty work indeed. Evil, violence, pain, danger are all part of the daily or nightly routine.
I call BS. Being a cop or a politician in Japan is a Mickey Mouse job. Most security guards in the west face more evil, violence, pain, danger than your average omawari chan.
Geeter Mckluskie
My wife was a cop. Her father was a cop. Her two brothers are cops. Now, imagine the strictest work evironment in Japan that any of you has experienced...and multiply that stress 10 fold.
Moonraker
I used to teach potential cops - students who intended to be cops - and they were definitely not the brightest. But, as Geeter alludes to, the system has become almost hereditary: all of them had fathers or uncles who were cops. They were confident their future was assured. Perhaps the hereditary nature of the business - like with politicians - is a drag.
KyotoToday
There was a construction site next to my house and it was making a right noise well into the night, so we called the police and they said "they (construction people) have permission", to which we said "who gave them permission?" and the police said "we did". And I said "who gave you permission?" and they replied "we don't need permission, we're the police. And I said "who pays your wages?" Long story short, I had it stopped within half an hour.
I wouldn't trust the police in this country as far as I could spit a house brick.
ian
As bad as people make Japan's police sound , still can't imagine they could be any worse than any other countries'
Certainly way better than ours back home.
Does anyone here know of countries with better police force
aaronagstring
“Monster police officers' abusing power – what sets them off?”
The uniform.
Geeter Mckluskie
No, I don't think that has anything to do with the actual job being a drag. What's a drag is having to deal with a hostile public only to have to deal with over-demanding, hostile superiors.
Moonraker
You don't have to shout, Geeter. Maybe "drag" is the problem here. I mean a drag on society having hereditary police. I mean the gene pool is reduced, like with politicians.
dmacleod
In my 27 years of living here, I've never had a problem with them. Maybe I'm just lucky.
Desert Tortoise
I think training is the key to a professional police force that doesn't abuse their authority. The better European police forces have training academies that last 2-3 years. A cop or a soldier, when under stress, react how they are trained. In the military we always said you fight the way you train because when bullets or fists are flying you don't have time to step back and intellectualize the situation. You need to be well trained so you recognize the problem fully and react according to your training. Most cops are frankly under trained and because their supervisors were under trained they are poorly led. Better and more training would improve results, and probably improve the public perception of their police.
Abe234
Pitty they don’t have points for drivers of cars who don’t put seatbelts on their kids. They’d get tons of points sitting outside a kindergarten. Maybe even millions of points.
Garthgoyle
In the west we have a different term for that, corrupted cops.
GillislowTier
I remember the Koban butcho sent his new recruits to my bar one night in a fake noise complaint. Typical young “I have authority now” type attitude kids. Seeing a foreigner pretending to not understand them and doing the slack jawed “well don’t do it again” while me and the customers laugh at them. On the way out they made a point to try and pick up my girlfriend and her friend who were drinking at the bar lol.
I guess if you can’t show off one way you try to use your uniform in another. The next day the butcho came by and asked how they did. He facepalmed pretty hard when I said they tried to get my girlfriend’s line on the way out while on duty haha. Fun memory but also f the police. Bunch a nonsense
Geeter Mckluskie
The police have issues recruiting due to the brutal training, stressful demands by superiors and low pay. Nepotism is not as big an issue as is the kind of effect such a brutal way of life has on individuals who are already predisposed to brutality and over aggressive behaviour, behaviour that is suppressed on one hand only to be released on another...the other being the public or inferiors.
1glenn
Many police are fine, upstanding members of the community. And some of them, too many of them, are indeed monsters. The importance of a free and diligent press corp is hard to overstate. The principle that no one is above the law is also of great importance. The recent Supreme Court ruling that the law does not apply to all people puts our safety in jeopardy.
Gene Hennigh
Sounds as if commenters here haven't traveled much. The police in Boston US and Chicago US are, to control my temper from my anger, let's just say they were not good police people. The police in France, Australia, Belgium, and England were great. But I would hate to try out the police from quite a few other countries. (I'm lucky. I never had a problem when I was in Japan. I was probably lucky, but they don't seem any worse than a lot of the places I've been to.)
Daniel Neagari
Few years ago (dacade?), it was said that Japan has two police forces one legal and the other illegal... or that Japan had two types of Mafias, the Legaly operating Mafia and the illegally operating Mafia.
Nowadays, where the illegal side has lost a lot of power and presence... i suppose the legal one has to cover more ground.
Daniel Neagari
@Gene Hennigh
Your comment remind me of a joke...
Heaven is where the police are British, the cooks are French, the mechanics German, the lovers Italian and it's all organised by the Swiss.
Hell is where the chefs are British, the mechanics French, the lover's Swiss, the police German and it's all organised by the Italians.
Christopher
Sooner or later, after living in Japan for a long length of time. Your going to run into a jerk Jcop.
I was fishing in my home. ( private property). On our home pier no less. Which is so sweet. I love that pier. Has Jetski lifts with two brand new Sea-doo's at the time, and in dry docks with a Gazebo in the center of the pier with a gas BBQ grill My place is in Wakamatsu Yahata Nishi-ku. Anyways, I am cutting up some bate no less. Just some frozen Squid. And a Jcop on his moped Cub sees me. The length of my knife or a refection from the sun caught his eye. Walks right on to the property. And says your knife! Abunai! I must measure, measure knife now.
Screaming at me at the top of his lungs this guy. Young guy, definitely rook.
The Jcop had to measured my American fillet knife 13 inches by the way, that is out side the CM length with in the law I guess. I was done. He begins to berate me and call for back up. And I had to pack up my gear bring it all into the house. Him following right behind me the whole way. Then right into cuffs. Everyone was at school and or work, wife and kids, wife's parents. I was booked at Orio Koban.
I was interviewed over 11 hours. I was finally allowed and given a phone call. 11 Hours!
They just kept pounding me. How was this knife allowed in to Japan through the postal system? Over and over again the same question. They did not believe me. I explained it to them how many times? I bought the knife off Amazon with a ton of other fishing gear in a tackle box set. It was a real fiasco. It must slipped through the postal system without getting flagged. I did not know about the sword acts law.
Finally, my wife had to leave work. Gets down there to the Koban. Does all this gami gami with chief or honcho Jcop Boss. After 11 hours and my day off ruined. I was set free and off with a warning and some document I was made to sign. My wife had to go back to the house for our inkans, hers and mine which really ticked her off the most. And they kept my knife too. Was not getting that back. Nice Buck fillet.
But these Jcops were jerks. Very abusive. I felt like a criminal. I just like to fish.
Its an experience I will never forget. I continue to fish there to this day.
TokyoOldMan
I have the impression that most are bored stiff, so want to create some situation that makes it look like they're meeting "performance targets" .
I cycle a lot, and from time to time Police waiting at sides of roads, waiting to accost the unlucky motorist or cyclist who stops alongside them. They do this periodically, month ends maybe. I try not to get stopped, or if shouted at pretend to not notice - why'd they shout at me, I wasn't doing anything wrong... Sadly if you do get into an accident that involves another Person/Car, the Police will subsequently detain and question you for hours as if its your fault, even if its clearly not. They like to ask the same question in different ways several times, in order to find ambiguity in your statements... so be warned.
I don't think all Police are like this, some are "nice", just as elsewhere, some bad apple however leave bad memories which are then associated with all.
windspiel
Gene, if you treat a German police officer as a human you will be treated just as. My experience with a couple of times.
NipponIchiGo
Just remember one thing at all times. The police in Japan are not on your side and are not there to protect you and your family. They are just underpaid government staff looking to deal with their nightmare bosses. Some will take it out on you, some are looking for payouts, and some are still trying to be mentally healthy. You never know.
If captured by their gaze or by situation, the only thing you can do is cooperate quietly, never misunderstand you have rights (you do not), and move away as soon as possible. I tell my family if I am ever in custody with the J-Police- do not believe anything they tell you (blackmail) and call me a good lawyer without delay!
GuruMick
My dear Father in Law, {RIP} a rough diamond , Osaka born and bred. was stopped by cops when he was in his 80's {!}, riding his bike home from the shops.
Cops look him up and down and allege this is a stolen bike.
Pregnant pause...
Father in Law replies "You two are rookies are'nt you...just finished at the Police Acadamy "
Cops, eyes downcast, "yes sir..."
Father in Law " Well get out of my @#%ing way , you waste my time ....go and do some real work ...!!!"
Gotta love a man like that.
I know criminal law back to front in Australia and I know not to say ANYTHING !!!
bass4funk
100% correct.
Again, spot on, and to that point, I don’t believe what the cops say; I don’t trust them, never have and never will, at least in the U.S. there are legal actions I can take if I am ever abused by the police, there is always some recourse you can take, but in Japan, it’s a very different story, you don’t have institutions that will fight aggressively on your behalf should you be wronged by a J-police officer.
muzukashi
@Christopher, please check to @Uafan's comment ,
From you experience, it seems you still a chance to claim that you are innocent, however asserting innocent in Japan won't come easily, @Uafan's comment said that too.
They'll try to push to make as if you were guilty. They'll make you to admit that you are guilty, and sign some paper.
Seeing your experience that you mentioned earlier
For knife, treatment can be really vary, however for your case you were using kitchen knife inside your property for preparing meal, that shouldn't be a problem at all.
Since that kitchen knife were used in your home area. Then it's not illegal, if you are willing to challenge them.
Official rules pointed that, knives that being produced for preparing meal and used for that purpose, that means you have legitimate reason.
You can check here:
https://www8.cao.go.jp/kisei-kaikaku/oto/otodb/japanese/faq/qa/q8-5.html
https://criminal.darwin-law.jp/column/1409/
When they ask something, try to confirm whether is voluntarily or not, even they never mention that. When they ask you to go to their office for further questioning. It still could be voluntarily, however when you go with them, basically you agree with them.
The reason you don't get you knife back because you already sign that statement, which is likely admit that you are guilty and your willing to handover your knife.
Bib
Always avoid the cops here and never cooperate more than legally necessary. I saw a young guy key a police car outside a cafe I was in. The guy came in for a coffee. Cops started looking around….did I help? Hell no. I said nothing and left. Never help them, never get involved.
1glenn
Very interesting to read the comments here.
I have never been to Japan, though I would love to. That said, I would be very careful with law enforcement officers wherever I go.
Have been to Europe, and had nothing but good experiences with European police. Perhaps being a clean cut, obviously American helped. Even in East Germany I had no problems, though being followed was a strange feeling. When in a police state, be very, very careful not to break law, is my advice, and don't stay any longer than necessary. I took the train from Sweden to Berlin, and as the saying goes, "We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto!"
American police? It runs the gamut, from wonderful to awful. A young police officer friend was ambushed and murdered while on duty. Twenty two years old, married with children. The last time I had lunch with him he was very happy and smiling. IMO, he was what is known as a public servant. Another time I was beaten up by sheriffs for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have been much worse. They didn't take any official action, just gave me a beating. I don't recommend it.
zulander
This makes me feel a greater urgency to get my drivecam installed...