crime

Police to lend dash cams for cars as anti-stalking measure

4 Comments

The National Police Agency (NPA) has announced it will begin a program to loan stalking victims dashboard cameras from fiscal year 2021 as an anti-stalking measure. Each prefectural police headquarters will receive 20 dash cams, to be paid for by an additional 15 million yen in the budget.

The National Police Agency said there had been 59 reported cases in the January-July period this year in which GPS trackers were secretly installed in victims' vehicles so stalkers could find out where they were, Sankei Shimbun reported. But in July, Japan’s Supreme Court ruled that installing a GPS tracking device in someone’s vehicle without consent is not punishable under the anti-stalking law.

The court reasoned that remote tracking through GPS devices does not constitute illegal spying. This makes it difficult for police to arrest someone on stalking charges as unwanted surveillance falls outside the legislation’s scope.

As a countermeasure, the NPA suggested using vehicle-mounted cameras as an effective way to detect any stalkers. Additionally, the program aims to dissuade people from installing GPS monitoring devices in vehicles.

According to the NPA, dash cams will be loaned to victims, if necessary, after consultation and installed in their car. The police have also begun lending home security cameras free of charge.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

4 Comments
Login to comment

Pointless and meaningless ... these predators lurk in the dark - not in front of a care.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Dashcams are great for monitoring would be stalkers that follow their prey on cars, now only if they could cover other aspects of a victim's life. They should also loan victims spy cameras to have with them in person in case someone decides to tail them while on foot which kinda happens a lot. And while they're at it, give these people an emergency beacon that they can press just in case. I have a zero-yen suggestion for authorities, encourage the public to capture people committing (or at least potentially) crimes and report them. Those that successfully aid in the prevention of a crime or an arrest will receive an award. But then again, this is against a lot of legal and moral stuff, not mention against the Japanese psyche of not being a bother in other's business.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Legalizing guns would put an immediate end to the stalkers...Use only when necessary.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites