Two policemen knifed in Sasebo

I see stabby summer has arrived early this year. I fully expect to see more of these in the news.

I wonder of the cops identified themselves as policemen?

Obvioulsy, the guy they stopped has a few loose screws, but I also wonder if he knew he was attacking two cops. Or quite possibly, in his mind, he may have been "defending himself" from two strangers.

Most human waste here is intoxicated at this hour on the street and probably thought they werent cops. Knifed, slashed, stabbed..... jesus can we just use one term.... can only praise we dont see gunned down, shot....

certain areas and locations excluded, sorry.

Two cops could not subdue this guy?

Glad the officers are okay. I'm assuming they identified themselves as police officers before questioning him.

wow... knifed.. i leaned something new today

I live in Haiki....i'm sure there is more to come.

'Stabby summer' - classic

walking suspiciously...

Love to hear more about that. John Cleese and his silly walks come to mind straightaway!

my2sense & moonknightskye, 'slashing', a long swiping cut, and 'stabbing', a sudden sharp push straight in with the knife, are two quiet different actions, resulting in very different wounds.

To 'knife' someone is probably closer to 'stab', although I can stab you with my umbrella, but I can't 'knife' you with it.

noted.

unmarked patrol car and dressed in civilian clothes.

At 3:30 am??

Not to be overly critical.. but them police should have been able to stop this man who pulled out the blade. First they should have been aware of a possible attack, and assumed that anyone they stopped could possibly decide to try to kill them. I thought police were trained in martial arts? Maybe they need more realistic training.. they failed themselves.

In my experience it is probable that the cops just walked/drove upto the guy and began aggressivly questioning. I've had this done to me and they did not show ID until I told them I thought they were thieves and I was leaving.

Ps. Never trust jcops. Also from experience.

Hmmm... I have nothing against the police here, but two officers taken out by one guy with a knife? It's not like the guy came up behind them, right? Maybe I'm thinking about it too hard. I suppose it's the sort of thing that just sounds hard to believe, but to see it actually happen would be another story.

If the cops tried their usual casual approach, but the guy was on speed for example, they would never have seen the blade coming.

Pretty bad police work if you ask me

This is a strange story. The police were in plain clothes and an unmarked car when they see a man walking alone at 3:30a (in a way that could be suspicious just to be walking there alone at that hour - but i have much troubles sleeping and i can remember watching from mai balcony as sometimes others would be walking alone at late and very early times). I would not be surprised if the police did NOT identify themselves as police - and the person stabbed them out of fear and ran away. He could have been a criminal i guess but he could just as well have been an innocent person walking home, who was approached by 2 aggressive men on a dark street.

Why are the streets being patrolled by plain-clothed cops in unmarked vehicles?

Why are these cops stopping people?

My first inclination is that they are criminals trying to assault me - I may have done the same thing if I were the lonely man.

If you argue that the area warrants such patrolling, because of high crime rate or gang violence, etc... then DUH, two dudes that come up to me and start asking what my name is and occupation, I'd be protecting myself too!! Attack first before they attack me!

The Plain-clothed cops should have asked for a uniformed office to arrive and perform the stop. That way there is no confusion....

Sorry cops - u got what you were looking for - trouble.

well, that has got to be embarrassing. Being an asian country, I would have thought the cops would have had great martial arts training.

I have tried to figure out the laws here and have asked several lawyer but never get the same answer.

Here at my station the largest in the north east part of Tokyo plain clothes cops and uniform cops are stopping people and searching their bags every day I have no idea how they pick these people or what they are looking for.

Sometimes the plain clothes cops try stopping someone and they just keep on going (no ID is shown and they do not identify themselves) so the cops just grab them by the arm to stop them only then do they show their police ID.

They have tried stopping me twice once I just said I was late for work and if they wanted to talk or search my bag they would have to keep up with me went through the gate and got on my train.

The next time I was on my way home this time the same plain clothes cop showed up with a uniform cop asked for my ID (which I showed him) then asked to look in my bag, I asked him why and he just answered " we just want to look" so I told him no and said if he wanted to, then he could talk to my lawyer and handed him my lawyer card ( actually he's only my lawyer concerning a car accident where someone hit my car in my parking area) when he saw the lawyers card he just say thank you and walked away.

My question is can they actually just search your bags for no reasons?

Some lawyer said yes others said no. which is it?

I for one am pretty sure they just approached this man started asking questions before identifying themselves.

Some people watch too many police action movies.

I'm not defending the keystones here...but my girl showed me a picture of the suspect. He def looked pretty shady. But my question is why are plainclothes cops patrolling a place like haiki. Trust me, I live in Haiki and there is NOTHING going on at 3am. Sounds like some bored keystones got more than they can handle.

Suspect Kamiyama (33) indeed does not look like a salaryman... apparently turned himself in to police at 4:05am... http://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye4402713.html

They got owned :)

hang on... I thought police had hand guns? Why didn't they do the classic Indiana Jones tirck? (he waves his blade, and a cop just draws and shoots him)...

Why not Indiana Jones move? In a country which gives more rights to criminals than to law abiding citizens, I'd guess that the Japanese Police wear the gun for decoration. I'd expect if the Police actually used any form of force they'd be thrown in jail too.

A self defense shooting is stressful to defend even in the US. I couldn't imagine it here.

Just read through the posts. Why are the police the bad guys here? The article does not mention why the police stopped this individual, my guess is, SURPRISE! there was a reason. I've been in Japan the better part of the last 50 years, and when you're stopped here one of the Police Officers doesn't have his gun pulled out while the other is questioning you (as it happens frequently in the States). I agree, Haiki is a quiet area of Sasebo, but the residents of Haiki and Japan need to be thankful the Police are out patrolling, not badmouthing them. If you've got a problem, go live in East LA.

hang on... I thought police had hand guns? Why didn't they do the classic Indiana Jones tirck? (he waves his blade, and a cop just draws and shoots him)...

A few years back, a cop took his gun out and shot a man who was attacking him. He shot him in the leg. The cop was fired because he ''didn't have permission'' from his superiors to take his gun from his holster. Despite the fact that shooting his attacker probably saved his life, prosecutors tried to indict him on ''attempted murder''.

Then there was the incident with the guy who chased cops on national television news, wielding a large stick at them. The cops turned and ran off, right past the news camera! At the time, Koizumi declared that all cops were to receive advanced training in how to deal with assailants and violence future. Obviously that training never materialized.

But in this case, at least the cops are out patrolling the streets! And they're not just looking for stolen granny bikes either! How many cops do you know back home that patrol the streets anymore?