On-duty officer apparently shoots himself at Tokyo police station

24 hours? Why does anyone need to work a 24 hour shift? 3 officers, 8 hour shifts each... no? Too far-fetched?

Fickle!

Pay attention to the ages of police who commit crimes and who shoot themselves. Many are in their early 20's(just starting the job or in their 50s-with another 10 years to go) It is my opinion that the "rookies" want to quit but are forced to stay by terrific pressure and bullying. Those in their 50s just can't take it anymore and want out without being pressured and bullied.

Japan has crazy notions about rational working hours. No regard for human beings or human health. Shocking more people don't just drop out... more than the 30,000+ per year that is.

Why does there have to be a note for it to be a suicide?

"Why does there have to be a note for it to be a suicide?".

Because it is one of those cultural expectations we have in life. In this case the average Japanese person would expect a note to be left if one commits suicide. Much the same thing as Japanese who will take their shoes off before jumping from a building.

why do they have to be on duty for so long. what is that for??? they are not robots. they need down-time - like sleep!!!! maybe. no wonder there is so much ineptitude. blame it on the inhumane working hours. actually, i have heard they can be on duty for up to 48 hours then two or three days off. just enough to disrupt body rhythms. like nurses here, too.

i have heard they can be on duty for up to 48 hours then two or three days off.

The up to 48 hours is correct (more usually 24+, though), but there's only one day off before it starts again. More than enough to disrupt body rhythms. It's crazy.

fatloser -

It isn't 'terrific pressure and bullying' that prevents the rookies from leaving so much as the stigma of being a failure - not able to make it. Go for another job and the first thing they ask is Why did you leave the force, then?

I don't know if/why he committed suicide, but I don't think that 24 hours is a long shift. It's common for police officers, fire fighters and doctors, even in other countries. Just because you have a 24 hour shift doesn't mean that you are working for all of it. My brother is a fire fighter and if they get no calls, they just sleep or hang out. Then they get the next two days off.

Orihara apparently lost several traffic violation tickets on Sunday and was looking for them, but they have not been found

the straw that broke the camels back

maybe he did leave a note..."I feel guilty about forced confessions, corruption etc.."

I bet that would have gone missing in a flash.

Go for another job and the first thing they ask is Why did you leave the force, then?

Yeah, I know what you mean. Saying something like 'I wanted one break every 24 hours' just makes you sound like a sissy.

This 24-hour-shift nonsense isn't good for the public either.

If you were being questioned randomly on the street by a police officer, would the knowledge that the officer questioning you hadn't slept in 23 hours make you feel safer, or less safe?

then why be on duty for 24 hours if you spend the majority of the time doing nothing. Go home, hang out with your family, get some sun. Do a full 8 hour shift properly and then go home and relax. It's a proven fact that humans are more efficient when they have a balanced day.

please tell me that 24 shift means taking 8 hour breaks for sleeping at the station.

sleep deprivation has similar effects to being drunk.

One of my jobs in the USN, we had to pull duty for 24 hours. On ships, even though you did a full work day, that means that you slept on the ship during normal sleeping times unless you had the night watch. Then, it was rotated through the duty section.

Do not the J-police have enough since to do this. A cop is on duty for 24 hours. But he should at least spend 8 hours working, and at least 8 hours asleep, still being on call in case of an emergency. It seems to me not only can these guys not solve crimes thoroughly, they can't man a watch bill either.

What if he just dropped his gun while he was on the toilet cause he was so sleepy?

Alphaape

Wait, let me get this straight. You're a SWO and you admit to getting sleep while underway? That's a new one... ; )

not only can these guys not solve crimes thoroughly, they can't man a watch bill either.

'These guys' don't have any choice (unless they quit); it's their superiors sitting behind their big desks and working 9 to 5 who decide the crazy working hours, and they are apparently dinosaurs with the attitude 'Well we had to do it when we were omawarisan, so today's omawarisan can do it too'.

I knew firefighters who used to be like that 24hour shifts, but at least they worked out of a firehouse and had beds to rest in during the off hours.

Maybe this guy had a bazillion other problems and just losing the tickets finally went mad.

USNinJapan,

That was a good one. I remember seeing the Cheng smoking on the fantail while underway years ago. I looked at him and said, "Hey Cheng, that's the sun; we get that up here."

Studies have shown that not only do long hours really play havoc with the mind, constantly rotating from night shifts to day shifts also has a bad effect.

No matter what the cause, it is sad to see someone take their own life. I feel for the man's family.

Taka

Okay, shooting himself over 3 lost traffic tickets seems to be an assumption in this article. I don't think so, come on! This sounds fishy. Was with his colleagues then goes and commits suicide???? Not that it can't happen but it sounds to me like this guy at 26 was just starting his career as a police officer. It doesn't make any sense!!!!

Murdered by bully superiors!! Thats it. Or vengeful Yaks? The plot thickens.

Three lost traffic tickets are NOT what caused this police officer to shoot himself. It would be the 24hrs on duty even if one was not doing anthing important it is the continual stress & strain on the chap's mind.

True I was "on call 24 hrs a day" which means after 8 hrs at work I went home & basically came back the next morning to normal work. On very rare occasions I was on call to do something in my line of work.

Obviously my "on call 24 hrs a day" was TOTALLY different.

Also I am sorry to read about this police officer, his family & those related to him. It was not having an "Accidentaly Discharge" of the f/arm it was the strain & stress of all his hours on duty.

I never thought of becoming a police officer in Cdn once I realized the CRAZY shift ours they had to work not to mention the strain of upholding what is THE LAW along with all the paper-work. YET that is not like said police officer that had to put in his 24 hrs.

At least he didn't take a load of innocents to the grave with him.

Probably had too much of a guilty conscience rom his job. Japanese police either are corrupt or deliberatly ignorant of what goes on around them.

A few whistleblowers may help clean up the force.

Everyone is worried about the cops working these 24hr shifts. Come on people, this is the J-police. They just cop a nap at a koban and then when the criminals are done the knock on the door and turn themselves in. I've dealt with Japanese cops. They are inept in every sense of the word. 8 cops taking 8 hours to file ONE train chikan report says it all. Pathetic. I would look for other reasons than a tough work schedule for this fella's demise. Problems with a girl, a superior etc, etc. Or perhaps there is always the other police committing crimes excuse... he was drinking.

Couldn't police determine by the amount of gunshot residue how close the gun was to his head, to determine if the shooting was accidental (dropped gun)or suicide?

Being a Japanese Police Officer on a 24 hr. shift maybe he shot himself out of boredom. Just a thought.

How the hell do you drop a gun to your head? Especially in a bathroom stall? Suicide 99.9% likely. The question is why? It's sad that a human life was lost, but scary to think this guy was a police officer with access to a gun and could have hurt and/or killed a lot of people before his demise. A sign of troubling times.

USN, I guess you are of the NATOPS school that all you need is 8 hours a night, and all the sleep you get in the daytime is just extra.

Working a 24 hour shift could be done, if done correctly. Even firefighter get to sleep in the station house if they are not on call. I am sure that there is plenty of room to take a nap in shifts in the back of a koban.

I am sure that there is plenty of room to take a nap in shifts in the back of a koban.

There is a 'kaminshitsu' where officers can catch a few minutes shut-eye if things are quiet. Problem is, things are rarely quiet ; it's when the rest of us are sleeping that the worms come out of the woodwork and make demands on police time. Lots of posters like to amuse themselves and the rest of us cracking jokes about police sleeping the afternoon away in the koban, but that officer nodding in his chair has probably been awake all night dealing with drunks, domestic squabbles and stroppy teenage runaways. Not to mention the slightly dippy lonely oldies who come in for a chat and a cup of tea at three in the morning regular as clockwork. And he'll be on call until the same time tomorrow.

marvenp

Who knew people could be hit by fatal falling bullets?

He was found on a toilet and his gun is attached to his belt. If he drops his pants and the gun hits the floor at an angle. It could have shot him in the head.

Or it was his co-workers and it's a set up.

Alphaape

Yes, NATOPS. The big blue sleeping pill. Everything about it is a pain in the ass except for the bit about required hours of sleep... : )

cleo, your points are well put. I have seen the many comments about napping J-cops in the koban. I think that we are sometime not aware that they do have to in some cases put in 24 hour shifts, and I have no problem with them getting a nap whenever they can. I myself have spent numerous hours "tango-uniform" when out at sea working shift work when I was not required to do something.

But I think what gets the perception about most J-cops and their sleeping in kobans is by the way they seem to handle high profile crimes that makes them look bad. Like the case of not knowing that a life-sized dummy was not a human, or letting the main suspect in the killing of the British woman walk right past them barefoot, or the time when it took 20,000 cops in Osaka to stop a speeding car (or some huge number, it was posted here). I think that the measure of incompetence that they show gets reflected in the greater image of how the police are viewed. The same as it was with the LA cops back in the 90's with the Rodney King beatings or the Rampart scandal and the perception that LA cops are crooked. Not all J-cops are lazy, but it seems that the lazy ones get the most press.

On-duty officer apparently shoots himself at Tokyo police station

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