Posts Tagged ‘police’

Japanese police to drive electric cars

Autoblog Green and ATV report on how police in Kanagawa prefecture will be driving electric cars:

The fuzz in Japan’s Kanagawa Prefecture are getting a new ride, and while it’s certainly not going to come out as the victor in a high-speed pursuit, it should handle lighter duties just fine. The car, as you can see above, is a Mitsubishi i MiEV, and the delivery of the unit to the police department for testing appears to mark the first such use of an i MiEV by a Japanese organization other than a power company. Kanagawa Five-O will evaluate the car through March of 2009, and Mitsubishi will regularly collect test data for further analysis.

Complaints about G8 summit security

Anti-globalization protesters and people that need to throw away trash aren’t the only ones out there who are taking issue with security measures being taken across Japan for the G8 Toyako Summit.

The AFP has a report about the reaction of local residents to the beefed-up security:

Ano also runs a bar where he said the number of customers has tumbled nearly 40 percent in the past month.

“With this many policemen patrolling in the town people don’t feel like going out and drinking,” he said. “It’s ridiculous to get excited and hype up the summit.”

Hotel workers also said tourism has decreased out of concerns that police may restrict activity as the summit approaches.

“When I was driving into town, police motorbikes happened to cruise ahead of me and police cars behind. It was like I was in a motorcade,” said a restaurant manager. “This is the world’s safest town now.”

Riot police buses cruise the streets, with locals playing gateball near a row of parked police patrol cars.

“I want to say ‘A summit? So what?’” said a worker at a souvenir shop who gave only her first name, Yumi.

“It’s a nuisance instead. Police are everywhere, questioning people and checking cars,” she said. “I know it’s their job but it’s unbearable that they are watching me.”

She was also skeptical of the Japanese government’s drive to showcase environmental protection at the summit, noting that roads in the area have been completely rebuilt.

“People are preaching about the environment but what they’re doing isn’t ecological,” she said, despite a G8 promotion badge on her chest saying “Love Earth.”

Debito Arudou’s latest Japan Times column complains about the summit security from the perspective of a non-Asian Japanese citizen facing racial profiling from the police:

I’ve likewise criticized the Hokkaido G8 Summit (Zeit Gist, Apr. 22) — not only as a waste of resources (an estimated $700 million spent, mostly on “security”), but also because police harass foreign-looking people as if they’re all potential terrorists.

Like me. On June 19, flying from Tokyo to Chitose Airport, Hokkaido, I was snagged by a plainclothes cop (a Mr. Ohtomo, Hokkaido Police badge #522874) for exiting baggage claim while Caucasian. He wanted to see my “gaijin” card, citing summit security. I told him I was Japanese. Then he demanded proof of that. Repeatedly. Missing my train, I said I would cooperate if he asked three Asians for ID.

He obliged, but the first Japanese businessman he buttonholed blew him off without breaking his stride. So I said, “If he needn’t show ID, neither should I. By law, you can’t ID citizens without probable cause, right?” He agreed, apologized for confusing me with a foreigner, and let me go.

After posting audio recordings of the incident on his blog, Debito submitted a protest letter to the Hokkaido police. The police have denied that they are engaging in racial profiling.

Others have also claimed that foreigners are being unfairly targeted by security. Kyodo News has reported that an organization called the G-8 Citizens Media Center Sapporo has complained about the treatment of foreign journalists coming to Japan to cover the summit. According to the group, Japanese authorities have been detaining and questioning foreign reporters for prolonged periods of time.

Any readers care to share their personal experiences with the increased security measures?

Police swarm around Akihabara, bully man for legal possession of a swiss army knife

Following last weekend’s knife attack in Akihabara, the area was overflowing with cops yesterday. As one might have been able to predict, no copycat knife rampage took place. Instead, police officers spent the day searching for killers than did not exist, at one point bullying a man after finding a swiss army knife in his bag.

The man, who was apparently aware of his legal right to carry such a small knife, shrugged off threats of arrest from an officer. He was quickly surrounded by 18 police officers, because a dull-bladed tool knife is supposedly a very serious thing. After spending an hour and half attempting to bully and intimidate the man, the officers allowed him to leave.

[story via Danny Choo, photo via Mike's room]

Should Japanese police use their guns?

Yomiuri’s English edition has an article about the police response to the Akihabara stabbings [emphasis added]:

An assistant police inspector, 53, from the traffic division of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Manseibashi Police Station was tending to a man who had been hit by the truck when the suspect came up from behind him and stabbed him in the lower back.

Looking calm, the knife-wielding man glanced over the scene of pandemonium he had created.

Kato fled when another police officer carrying a baton approached him, running, waving the knife from side to side, counterclockwise half way round the crossroads. As shoppers bolted, the suspect stabbed one after another from behind before running off to the south.

[...]

A sergeant from the station’s Akihabara police box caught up with the suspect about 50 meters from the crossroad and thrust his baton at him, but Kato then ran into an alley.

The sergeant, 41, seeing that the man was holding the knife in his right hand and offering resistance, edged closer with his baton raised. He drew his pistol and ordered the man to drop his weapon, at which point the fight seemed to go out of the suspect. He dropped his knife.

The Telegraph offers a bit more detail on the use of police batons:

Kato was struck several times with a baton by a police officer – to little effect – and was eventually subdued when the officer drew his handgun.

Based on these reports, the situation seems to have been ended by the police officer’s gun. Batons were practically useless, and in the case of the first officer who chased Kato, a failure to pull a gun on the murderer allowed further slashing and stabbing to take place.

Nobody wants Japan’s police to become trigger happy and start killing off criminals every chance they get. However, in cases where use of a firearm could prevent violent criminals from causing injury and death to bystanders, Japanese police should be encouraged to use their guns. When police see a man with a knife stabbing people, the first thing they reach for should be their gun – not a baton.