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Support your local police

15 Comments
By Chris Betros

The other day, a policewoman from my local police station spent a few hours in my building lobby, asking each resident for contact details in case of an emergency. In my case, she politely inquired whom the police should contact in case of a disaster like an earthquake or an accident (if I get run down by a car). She bowed, I bowed and it was all very proper. My neighborhood “koban” (police box) is like that, too. They know me by now. The first time I walked past, an officer came out and approached me. I saluted him just for fun, and he actually saluted me back.

I have always been a big supporter of the police, though it is not always easy to do so, I admit. I remember growing up in Australia, being told by my parents and teachers that you could always trust policemen. Being in a small city, we usually knew some officers and their families quite well. Like many boys, I went through my I-want-to-be-a-cop–when-I-grow-up phase. My idealistic view of police was embellished by my favorite TV cops of the era – Kojak, Columbo, Steve McGarrett, Ironside – and later on in movies by Clint Eastwood's iconoclastic cop Dirty Harry -- they were all men of integrity upholding the law. (I still like Dirty Harry's view on tough law enforcement - "There is nothing wrong with a little shooting, as long as the right people get shot").

Then I went out into the real world and learned there were bad cops in every society, not to mention countries with totalitarian regimes where a visit from a police officer often meant a one-way trip. Now I find myself in Japan where law enforcement is a mixed bag. Seldom does a week go by where Japan Today doesn’t have a story about deviant police, wrongful arrests, bungled procedures or worse.

But despite all that, I still respect honest police. At the local level in Japan, the role of the police is very important, with its roots going back to a time when community policing was an integral part of the fabric of life. The koban certainly gives me a feeling of security knowing they are there. However, for the police to function effectively in any society, they need the respect and cooperation of all law-abiding citizens – despite their mistakes. This is why I am frequently disappointed when I read comments from readers on Japan Today insulting the Japanese police with names like J-flops and Keystones. One reader even called them “pigs,” which appalled me. Not only is the term out of date by about 30 years, it was and still is a disgusting term.

I have known a few police officers and their families in both Japan and Australia. They are all conscientious and proud of what they do, but it is a thankless, stressful and dangerous job in the best of societies. Criminals are more violent than they used to be. I remember one of my police friends in Australia telling me that it isn't always easy to arrest someone who doesn't want to be arrested, especially if they are drunk, armed or ready to use their feet, fists, teeth or whatever else they can get their hands on. Police never know, when they get called to a dispute, crime scene, stop a suspicious person or pull over a speeding car whether they will be shot at.

Very few people actually thank police officers for what they do. But many people insult them. Every police officer I know has admitted to being hurt deep down when they first heard someone calling them derogatory names. They have feelings like anyone. Ask a police officer’s mother, father, wife, husband or child how they feel about those insults.

During the recent manhunt in Boston, the whole city seemed to unite behind the law enforcement authorities in a rare show of solidarity. I thought about when police are called to break up a noisy party or if they fail to catch a criminal, they are insulted, but when the mad bomber is on the loose, suddenly we need the police and they are doing a great job.

It’s very easy to sit in the anonymity of cyberspace and insult the police. I can’t count the number of times I have read comments on Japan Today from readers saying “the cops should have done this or that,” of “if it was in my country, the cops would have had the case solved by now,” or some other such nonsense … as if solving a crime was like on TV where they wrap up the case in one hour, with all loose ends tied up.

The police profession, like all professions, reflects the strengths and weaknesses of the culture that gave birth to it. Techniques that work in one country cannot easily be transplanted to another. Police work in this day and age is exceedingly complex, requiring complicated exchanges of information and extensive cooperation between not only law enforcement divisions but also the public and private sectors.

In Japan, the insults – at least the ones from Japan Today readers – seem to fall into two categories: perverted police and bungled investigations. In the first case, sex crimes committed by police officers would be committed by those same individuals whatever profession they were in. A few rotten apples do not mean the whole tree is bad.

The second category is bungled investigations. We read stories about stalking complaints not being handled because police went on holidays, suspects bolting away from officers, cases of child abuse not being followed up on, the wrong person being arrested and countless other examples. These are by far the most serious, but I am not ready yet to trash the whole system.

I once had a scary experience with police in Japan. I was walking along a shopping street when a police office and store owner approached me. Apparently, a shoplifter, who looked like me, I guess -- had bolted from the man's store and the officer asked him if I was the guy. For a few seconds while I waited for the man to answer, I had visions of myself spending the next 21 days in a detention center. Fortunately, I was the wrong man. I don't know whether my view of police would have changed had I been detained.

So unless something drastic happens to make me think otherwise, the police will always have my support. The system isn't perfect but it sure beats whatever is in second place.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

15 Comments
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Good article BUT just as (in my country at least) assault on a police officer, attempted murder or murder of a police officer carries more weight in the court system because they are there to protect society, I believe the same holds true when they commit crimes or just not do their jobs properly. Whatever they have done carries more weight than average citizens precisely because they are to protect society. I have been stopped while being foreign and the police have always been courteous but I don't put stock that every encounter will be the same.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

The police are prone to harass non-Japanese looking people on bicycles. I am not sure the legality behind it, but they stop foreigners on old looking bicycles and automatically assume it is stolen. If you do not have the registration handy (most do not carry it), or if it is a bicycle of a Japanese friend, then you have stolen it. Also, many police offices need to keep in mind they are still police officers even off the job. Committing sexual harassment crimes or anything inappropriate reflects on the police as a whole.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Police are regular people. They aren't hero's who have super powers. They chose their jobs with full knowledge of what they were getting into. They get good pay and benefits, generally better than most jobs.

If they are the kind of folks who get their feelings hurt so easily, then they shouldn't have become cops.

I disagree with the author's conclusion. Private police, working for insurance companies would be much better than the current system.

Their jobs would be to PREVENT crime, property damage and bodily damage.

Cops, on the other hand, are trained to show up after the fact, and "try" and catch the bad guys.

As such, they are very inefficient in "preventing" crime, as that isn't even their job.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

In my area, police are the most useless public workers. They are unintelligent and lazy. The simplest job they do is to set a trap at some insignificant corner to fine normal drivers. When they pass by you, they expect you to pretend you don't see them. If you look at them in the eyes, they get very upset and start reacting like you must be a criminal or so! Most people simply do all they can not to confront a police because their attitiude is that you must be guilty of something ... To summarize, they are terrible people who carry a terrible history of intimidation and extra power on their back; they still determine the fate of court decisions based on their biased reports. As a foreigner, remember Japanese police are highly discriminating. For them Uchi and Soto are work mottos.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

Thanks for writing this article. I've been in Japan for 27 years and have never experienced a "bad situation". Yes, I have been stopped for various reasons.

I seldom go back home in the states, but once I did. I turned my lights off at a red light and next thing I know I lights, sirens behind me and bright spot light shining on me. Police with hands in their guns yelling for me to get our of my car with my hands up in the air. Talk about being scared sh**less.

I feel very safe in Japan and have the upmost respect for the police.

Oh, the turning of the lights at night at a red light is illegal and used by gangs for signaling.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Thumbs up for a sensible article. Like the author, I get disappointed (ultra-polite choice of words) when I read disparaging comments from posters whose opinions I otherwise respect.

Ask a police officer’s mother, father, wife, husband or child how they feel about those insults.

It makes me want to look down on the person making the disparaging comment - they either have no idea what they're talking about (see below), or they're low-lifes naturally on the other side from the police.

They chose their jobs with full knowledge of what they were getting into. They get good pay and benefits, generally better than most jobs.

They also work longer hours, gruelling shifts with frequent all-night work, and always the threat of danger and physical injury from some drunken punk or criminal type. They earn every yen they are paid, and then some.

Their jobs would be to PREVENT crime, property damage and bodily damage. Cops, on the other hand, are trained to show up after the fact, and "try" and catch the bad guys.

There are whole sections in every prefectural police force dedicated to crime prevention.

The simplest job they do is to set a trap at some insignificant corner to fine normal drivers.

Because all police are traffic police, right? In fact that's a separate section of the force.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

The first time I walked past, an officer came out and approached me.

im curious why he/she came out and approached you

6 ( +7 / -1 )

I like the police.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

I don't think it hurts that there are critical, even disparaging, views of the police in the comments sections of Japan Today. It is something you are unlikely to see elsewhere, and may even be more realistic. There are repeated stories of bungled investigations, of inappropriate police behaviour and over-the-top policing, amakudari police retirement jobs, and so on, along with the institutional violations of human rights such as in long incarceration for "questioning" and forced confessions, with resistance to measures which might make these violations harder. Yet, in the other (mainly Japanese) media these are rarely questioned as something systemically wrong with the police force and justice system. In fact, for every story - always treated in isolation - of a police transgressor or miscarriage of justice there is a fluff PR one of police doing a good job, and maybe more than that. I am personally happy there are people who can see beyond the PR and notice something else. It never benefits anyone to have an uncritical and tamed media. In Japan, there seems to be little institutional oversight of the police ( where do you go if you have a complaint against them, for instance? They seem to investigate themselves.) so a largely supine media is all we have.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

Nice article. I also support & respect local police and haven't had any bad incidences until now. Few times when on bicycle, I have been stopped by them but as soon as I showed them my alien resident card and they checked my bicycle number with their records they thanked me and let me go with a smile. Believe me it wasn't hard or troublesome at all. Once I was going out picnic with my family in car and by mistake crossed yellow line, the cop came and he first of all apologized for stopping me and asked me to carry on with our picnic and report him after I am back. That was so cool as it saved our plan for that day.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

There is no need for the police to collect your personal details, and write them in a grimy little notebook. That information is already kept at your local city hall or ward office, or with your embassy if you have registered with them. Do you REALLY think they will take the information so they can contact your relatives in an emergency? I rather suspect other motivation...

They also don't seem to know much about actual policing. They seem very passive in their approach to traffic law enforcement. As long as you remember to wear your seatbelt on a day that ends in "zero", you will be fine. The cops I have encountered largely seem to be uninterested in law enforcement. They were just looking for a safe, job secure, government job.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

I respect local law enforcement officers that are commited to doing their job correctly and are effective at upholding the law and protecting citizens rights. As someone in the US and having lived in many unsavory neighborhoods and running into even more unsavory citizens (too many gang bangers, ex felons, felons, and all around idiocy of people that don't understand their human rights do not allow them to infringe on others human rights) its good to see someone who is capable of protecting my basic rights from various criminal or inconsiderate acts that interfere with my right to enjoy a comfortable and safe environment.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

I just they would arrest and confiscate those d**n noisy motorcycles.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I have no respect whatsoever for the police! They do nothing about bozos on noisy motorbikes, intimidate and ask inappropriate questions when someone is in need of help, routinely card you regardless if they have checked you previously.

They are just another governmental Cockroach!!!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

uh, the contact details in case of an emergency scam. Every so often the police come round to my front door to ask for details about the household and each time I ask them about their privacy policy or any disclaimer written on a piece of paper. This happens about once every 2 years and going on for the last 8 years they have yet to produce an adequate answer to the this simple question about privacy laws. Why oh why would you give them your personnel details on a piece of paper to be stored at the Koban or god knows where and by whom and in what capacity. No wonder companies like Sony get hit hard with unencrypted usernames and passwords.....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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