What do you think of Japan's koban (police boxes)? Would such community policing work in North American or European cities?

No, it wouldn't work because in the west you need a car to go anywhere. Also, can you imagine a Koban against an armed mob?

In some places yes, in others definitely no. There is huge diversity among N. American and European cities. Geneva is a completely different place to Los Angeles.

Do they work in Japan? They are invariably empty and have no contact with the community at all (at least where I live).

There are fewer Kobans. They worked better when staffed by local police who were part of the community. It still happens in some locations. They have phones if they are unmanned.

In the UK there were also community police. I don't know the current situation.

We still have policemen 'on the beat' back in my hometown in the U.K,and they are much more engaging and proactive than keisatsu on our island,who are reluctant to stop anyone,(for example,most families don't use child seats,or seatbelts),for fear of upsetting the locals and creating paperwork.

Can only speak of my experience here.

First 2 places I lived the koban was not a "real koban" and only occasionally manned. Also they had to service a wider area with apartment buildings and I never met a police officer once.

Living now for 20 years in a smaller area and the local koban has a permanent residing officer.

I've met 3 or 4 different officers stationed there over hte years. They do an introductory meet when first placed and sometimes - not often - pop into houses to say "hello, is every thing ok" or tell about some suspicious character being spotted or the like.

When I've put to them certain problems, like inadequate road signage (many people visit the nearby parks) or neighbors who continue to illegally burn rubbish or poor road surface conditions(bad) or heaps of families coming to the parks on weekends with kids hanging out the windows / no seatbelts etc or the illegal dumping of household goods on our quiet narrow streets or giant tour buses negotiating the narrow road to the parks often causing jams because they cannot pass the curves etc etc, nothing has ever come of it. Nothing.

One officer said they will get back to me get a report about the poor signs - but they never did. The officer I recently mentioned about the illegal burning just laughed and said his parents have the same problem in their area. Maybe with his jovial manner he thought he was bonding with me.

I think simply they just don't want any trouble or flak with minor problems - even though that's their reason to be - you know Keep the Wa!

All have been nice guys, but I wonder what they do all day.

There you go.

Don't disturb the wa.

America is allergic to the word community, it's only 2 alphabets different from communism.

There used to be beat cops who walked around in specific places here in the US. Not so much anymore. I think these things would work in a lot of places, but not all. It makes the police be seen as friendlier, and it some places would be a boon to the community. Probably will never happen, alas.

browny1

I'm not sure the police are the best people to approach for some of the issues you described. Is there not a local resident's association in your area (jichikai or chonaikai)? My experience is that they can be good at resolving local issues.

In the UK there were also community police. I don't know the current situation.

The Police boxes disappeared so quickly in the UK that I think they morphed into TARDIS, and secured their own tv show.

the koban concept won't work in high threat areas, especially in America. All it would take is one armed looney to clear a police box. Unless they make those police boxes into pillboxes (I highly doubt this), I don't see this happening in America. In Europe on the other hand, it will depend on the area. In areas with lots of crime but are mostly confined to non-violent and deadly ones, I think it will work.

aaronagstring

In the UK there were also community police. I don't know the current situation.

The Police boxes disappeared so quickly in the UK that I think they morphed into TARDIS, and secured their own tv show.

I wasn't thinking about police boxes but the time when there were community police on the streets walking the beat.

As far as I have noticed, in Japan many of the smaller Koban are less about dealing with crime and more about familiarity.

I will explain. ( My view is shitamachi Tokyo, so take that into consideration)

Like many have pointed out at night they are often empty, but in the morning before school starts and in the afternoon as school lets out, the police are in them or more precisely infront.

They greet the children going to and returning from school and often also the locals heading to work, especially the children as they often chat a few seconds even know the names of some of the children, etc ..the rest of the day the kobans are often manned by retired police as a community contact.

What this does is get the population at a young age to not view the police as something to fear.

While my children when they were young and still today as adults view the Japanese police as a resource if something happens or in need of help, my nieces and nephews back in Canada view the police negatively.

The reason for this negative view in many western countries, is that more often than not the first experience/interaction with the police is when people are being stopped for something like a traffic violation or even a misunderstanding/misidentification (fit the description of a suspect the police are looking for).

This also goes the other way, much of the early interaction between the Japanese police (new officers) and the public are social non confrontational, as for in most western countries because of the way the system is set up young officers first interactions are things like traffic violations, crime related, etc...

Try this experiment that I have done in different countries: stop a police officer either in a patrol car, on the street (in a Koban in Japan), at a convenience store, wherever.

Prepare your question before hand.

Ask for directions or something related to being lost or not sure about where you are or going locally.

In my experience the Japanese police have been extremely friendly and try their best to help.

But the reactions I have gotten in North America and Europe have not been so nice.

Replies have been

" do I look like a tourist information centre?"

" That isn't police business" and my favourite

" that isn't police business and don't bother the police with this stuff or you can be charged with interfering with police duties"

I don't know if this last one is actually legally possible and it was in the USA and no the police were not on a call or anything they were in a 7-11 getting a coffee.

So I am not sure that Koban reduce crime but they do seem to make communication between the public and the police feel more comfortable and by extension make the public more willing to participate in helping prevent crimes.

grey,unpleasant places.

often-empty.

outdated.

even crime rate in Japan low end-these are necessary.

albaleo - Thanks for your comment.

Actually the single greatest purpose of the koban system imo is to keep a level of harmony within the neighbourhood. This will at times involve catching robbers or investigating murders etc but that would be extremely rare.

All of the things I mentioned have laws against them - road traffic laws, environment laws.... - but the police don't seem to want to be involved even though it's their job to uphold the law.

Re the main guy burning - he is the ex head of the jichikai (a number of times) so takes it upon himself to do what he wants. After I got little assistance from the police I contacted the local fire station and they said it's not their duty if he's not burning in the forest (50 meters away) and the city govt said to point him towards the city by-laws banning such. Weak as. But I did print out their official warning poster from their homepage and put in his letter box and under his car wipers a few times but the burning continues.

The koban system exists to maintain proper conduct within the set area and to help citizens with problems and concerns esp those affecting all. But sorry to say my local koban has failed/is failing on a number of accounts.

I could elaborate more - just too tiring.

What 'policing?' There's never anyone walking the beat or in the two nearby police boxes in my area. The crooks in my old neighborhood in the South Bronx would be packaging dope and living inside them if they ran them like that. I think it would work if there were a constant deterrent presence there though, along with active surveillance.

Here in England there used to be police boxes and small rest rooms for walking beat police constables. The most famous police box was of course Dr Who's. Sadly they have long since disappeared as police no longer walk anywhere.

I think it all depends on the budget allocated to Police in those countries.

Due to uncivilized migrants with criminal mentalities, the European countries such as Germany, UK, France or Italy would really benefit having more police and, those police booths everywhere.

However is hard to imagine those there due to limited budget.

It would definetly improve the situation, especially in the crime prone areas.