A man has lodged a complaint with Osaka police authorities, claiming that he was forced off a train by six drunk police officers.
According to a report on TBS, the man claims that the officers were behaving in a drunk and disorderly fashion on a Kansai line train at around 11:30 p.m. on Oct 21. The officers allegedly disturbed other passengers and performed chin-ups on the overhead hand rails.
The man told reporters that he asked the group to be more considerate of other passengers, at which point the confrontation escalated. The man was allegedly forced from the train by several officers at Tennoji Station, at which point he reported the incident, TBS said. He was quoted as saying that he was hit on the head twice.
Osaka police said they are currently investigating the incident.
© Japan Today
53 Comments
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Nicky Washida
It would be more believable if he had said 6 drunk officers felt him up on the train.....
kansaifun
Yeah, that sounds about right...
cleo
according to the TBS report, one of them was a kakaricho (sub-section chief), so definitely not a new recruit. And he was/is a kakaricho in the Seikatsu Anzen Ka, the section that deals with public nuisance.
Again according to the report, one of the drunken fools was turning somersaults on the hanging straps. We're not talking about someone objecting to just a bit of noise.
Police officers have it drummed into them that even off-duty they are still police officers and are expected to act accordingly. These bozos need to go back to police academy and start again at the beginning. Or find different jobs where they can clock off and be private citizens.
sillygirl
reading the news these days i would tend to believe the man. a sad commentary on today`s police in japan.
smithinjapan
"Osaka police said they are currently investigating the incident."
In other words, don't expect a follow-up story.
shanabelle
There is some footage and or photos of them on the train! (One of the morning shows had still shots of them) Remember plods, everyone has a camera on their phones these days...and you are NOT above the law.
nakamuran
I think hitting someone on the head (twice for that matter), and forcing them off the train after causing a scene that would bring someone to a point bold enough to confront 6 full grown men (let alone police officers) gets close enough to the gray area to touch upon both of those points. And this is Japan. A country where even when you're off-duty or on your day off (from work, school, etc...), your actions are not just held against you, but against your company, school, etc... We may not like it, but its the truth.
Christina O'Neill
If the complaint is true, then this guy was fairly brave facing down 6 police officers. I dont know if there is c.c.t.v. on trains to verify his story but if his account is correct, perhaps witnesses on the train may yet come forward following the ensueing publicity
nath
1 baillion mobile phones in this country, and no one has a picture or recording of these drunk officers?
BurakuminDes
Japan's finest law enforcement professionals.
wontond
Relatively speaking, some j-cops have done a lot worse. I chalk it up to just a bunch of guys getting drunk and obnoxious after work. This group just happens to be a bunch of cops.
TakahiroDomingo
hey, if the distinguished police officers were intoxicated, it's ok then, it wasn't their fault
nandakandamanda
This is Japan, and it involves a stain on the name of the Police. So proof is not so important.
Expect them to be discovered and reprimanded pretty quickly, IMHO.
cleo
Actually yes they are. On their days off they're on standby, ready to mobilise at a moment's notice in an emergency (like 3/11).
According to the TBS report, they were wearing suits. It only became apparent that they were police officers when the man called 110 and they were taken to the local police station. From their attitude on the train, the man said he assumed they were low-level gangsters.
CrazyJoe
These were drunk off duty cops in suits. What a disgrace. Nasakenai!
CrazyJoe
@Elbuda Mexicano
They were in suits according to Japanese news. Not police uniforms.
gogogo
Idiots!
Bogi
Unfortunately, I doubt it.
CrazyJoe
@Elbuda Mexicano
No problem.
Nessie
There would be eyewitnesses.
I would settle for expecting them to act like ordinary respectable citizens.
gogogo
Nothing will come of it, this is the last we will hear of it... I hate this
nandakandamanda
Thank you Cleo for the clarification. They allowed themselves to be taken to the police station. Thus my original surmise that they will be reprimanded seems more likely.
tmarie, Cleo has reason to know her stuff! Unfair, maybe, but that's the life they have chosen. ;8)
cleo
Two family members are police officers. I see first-hand what their working conditions are. When they're off-duty, they're on standby. That doesn't mean they're at the public's 'beck and call', but they are expected to be able to mobilise when necessary. Maybe it isn't fair, but as nanda says, it's the life they've chosen, no one forced them into it, at the interviews it's made perfectly clear that there are no more grey areas; you never forget that you're a police officer.
Elbuda Mexicano
Tmarie, not all Tokyo trains are that silent, get on a train full of high school or junior high school kids! Especially GIRLS!! They are all yelling, laughing having a great time, and sure some obachan etc..may be annoyed, oh well! Osaka trains, also seemed pretty quiet, but coming from Tokyo they seemed EMPTY as the rest of Osaka, I guess not enough $$$?? Work to keep people living down there??
whiskeysour
Actually in Tokyo they have made " NO CHIN UP " signs in Tokyo area.
I've met many colorful, weird, and crazy people in America riding the NY subway and chicago transit system.
I've met some colorful, old women taking off her sweaty stinky socks, oji chans (pee smell) sleeping on the blue (handicapped seats) with the socks off, drunkin salaryman explaining to me what a "real" american looks like waiting for the shinkansen, and other idiots I meet on the train. Most beautiful people on the train
IT"S ALL PART OF JAPAN LIFE. Yeahhhh
Elbuda Mexicano
Thanks CrazyJoe! In suits or uniforms just disgraceful !! Nice if they were all FIRED!!!
palanteboricua
@cleo
Well said Cleo!! They are tax-payers' public servants of the law - 24/7. Granted, they deserve R and R from time to time, but when in public view, they should know better than behave disorderly eratic. And furthermore, take a defenseless tax payer (if indeed he is actively working....) and make a moch out of him in front of others is clearly defamatory!
Puff_the_Magic
Me and five friends were drunk and pushed a cop off a train. Revenge?
cleo
Elbuda - Not so much nasakenai as bakamono, but yes.
Hategobo
Seems to be rather a lot of news recently about Mr Plod the Jcop, none of which reinforces my image of the local constabulary. My Dixon of Dockgreen image shattered forever.
Keyomo
Elbuda Mexicano
This does not surprise me, probably some young, new recruits, hot dogs, but they are light weights, getting a bit too drunk for their own good down there in Osaka, I hope they are severely reprimanded!! Mr.Hashimoto is a lawyer, I am sure he knows what to do with idiot punks like this that live off of our TAXES!! Maidou Ookini!
Elbuda Mexicano
CrazyJoe?? Are you sure about them being in police uniforms?? Or suits?? Like civilian clothing type??
tmarie
Ben, you been to Osaka? The trains aren't quiet - not loud or annoying or anything but people chat, people smile, people check each other out.. I find Tokyo odd for their silent trains and people looking down and away.
Elbuda Mexicano
Yes!! Cleo! Boricuapalante!! These idiot fools working at the Osaka PD are public servants living off of our TAXES!! No excuse for these aho yanen!!
nandakandamanda
JapanFut the Wok, agreed he may be lying. But the story is so unlikely it does have a ring of truth to it.
One question though, how did he know they were police ossifers, if as suggested above they were in plain clothes?
Fadamor
@bentheredonethat
Hmm. Assault and Battery were crimes the last time I checked. So in what alternate universe did you come from that you think it's NOT illegal?
nath
****Why was he pushed of the train? Had he done something wrong? Is it possible that officers were drunk?
cleo
tmarie, I think you're just looking for something to be argumentative about. Of course an off-duty policeman is still a policeman. Being 'a public servant 24/7' (your first argument) is not the same as 'working 24/7' (your new morphed argument). Of course a police officer whose job is supposedly preventing public nuisance who goes around creating a public nuisance is newsworthy, just as a pedophile elementary school teacher or a fire-fighter whose hobby is arson or a raping priest would be newsworthy.
These cops used violence against a member of the public and created a public nuisance. No amount of playing with words and reading the rules about hours worked and whatnot makes that OK.
It's actually more like a 24-hour shift plus a few more hours sorting out the paperwork (occasionally into the evening), on stand-by for the rest of the day, then one day off. In an emergency they would be called into work. Ask any police officer who was off-duty/on leave on 3/11.
nath
@Keyomo "Osaka police said they are currently investigating the incident." wait, if the same police station is investigating its self that means there is going to be nothing done because they will just say they never did it"
Exactly. Some people are naive enough to think that an organization will actually do an internal investigation and punish their own people. In 90% of cases an organization will do NOTHING to their own people even when they know they're guilty. Not unless there is airtight evidence against them and the organization will get into trouble with a higher power if the refuse to do something. In all other cases most organizations will blame everything and everyone except for their own people. It's bullcrap but police stations do it, schools do it (yes, schools. I've seen this first hand more than once) and God knows politicians do this b.s. constantly.
Elbuda Mexicano
Well Cleo, obviously these drunken fools really forgot they had sworn to serve and protect the public, right?? Nasakenai ne!
nath
With as arrogant and dishonest as many gai-jin (Americans) are (no offense) I expect this type of crap from gai-jin cops. I've seen it. They have a nice little habit of blaming the victims in over half of the cases. It's like if someone hits you and you hit back (figuratively/literally) then it's all your fault which is b.s. However, I do hold Japanese cops to a different standard. If they did do this then I hope the "victim" has evidence so they get the boot off of the force and stop disgracing police in Japan. The "victim's" story does sound believable though.
tmarie
When they're off-duty, they're on standby. Which means they are NOT working 24/7, nor should they be expected to act as if they are on duty. Did they cross the line? Sure but if you think civil servants need to be straight laced and uptight all the time... And as I said, there are rules about hours worked and whatnot. For all we know, these guys juts got off a 24 hour shift and were out celebrating something. They wouldn't be called into work - more so if it was known they were going out on the slash.
tmarie
Has reason? What on earth is that supposed to mean? Unfair? It is when the public seems to think that civil servants are at their beck and call 24/7 which is clearly not true.
tmarie
Being a public servant does mean they need to be "on" 24/7. Come on. Unrealistic and unfair. If they aren't being paid 24 hours a day, they don't need to be "on". There are rules that govern this type of thing.
tmarie
Interesting that this is in the news when there is no proof. I don't see how there behaviour is all that different from millions of other salarymen on the trains - and no one says a word!
If they did it, charge them. If not, don't put it in the news.
tmarie
Sorry but who are you crazy people who cops, police, teachers... should all live their life like they are "on" 24/7? Lighten up! This isn't newsworthy. How many other guys hung off the rails and hit someone on the train last night? Don't see that reported here.
bentheredonthat
it kinda annoys me when oji-chans and oba-chans attempt to enforce these hidden rules that you can't do anything on a train besides riding it in silence. in every other country i've been to where there's a subway, people are always talking on their phones, chatting to each other and actually having a bit of fun on a train. but in japan, it seems like a huge faux pas. times change people.
bentheredonthat
they are NOT public servants 24/7, and our taxes don't pay for their time off duty, so they can do whatever the heck they like off duty if it doesn't break the law. although police officers are held at a higher level of decency than joe six-pack, their behavior did not constitute anything illegal or morally offensive. so what if they were doing somersaults and chin-ups on a train while off duty.
j4p4nFTW
Japanese police serve the public good and sacrifice a lot of themselves to help ensure Japan remains the safest country in the world. It is unlikely that this man's story is true.
some14some
11:30pm? seems only the complainant was not drurk. No Witness No Case....move on !