Multimedia Mania/abacus-multimedia-mania.iso/dp/0034/00348.txt

Text File | 1993-07-27 | 22KB | 365 lines

$Unique_ID{bob00348}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Japan
Chapter 7D.   The National Police System}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Melinda W. Cooke}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{police
national
public
safety
local
riot
forces
officers
agency
prefectural}
$Date{1981}
$Log{}
Title:       Japan
Book:        Japan, A Country Study
Author:      Melinda W. Cooke
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1981

Chapter 7D.   The National Police System

     In 1871 Japan's newly established government organized the nation's first
civil police force, modeling it along continental European lines. The police
force was used for maintaining order during the government's founding period
and putting down internal disturbances and counterrevolutionary uprisings.

     After the 1880s the police developed into a force through which the
government extended its control nationwide. Police officers served "primarily
as roving guardians of public morality, working with local leaders as a
uniformed expression of official approval for the local order." They acted as
nonspecialist civil administrators, disseminating official measures, thereby
facilitating unification and modernization. In rural areas especially they
were held in high esteem and accorded the same mixture of fear and respect
directed toward the village headman and the local schoolmaster. Their
increasing involvement in political affairs became one of the foundations upon
which the twentieth century authoritarian state was erected.

     The centralized police system steadily acquired responsibilities until it
controlled almost all aspects of daily life, including fire prevention and
mediation of labor disputes. The system regulated public health, business,
factories, and construction, and issued permits and licenses. After 1937
police directed business activities for the war effort, mobilized labor, and
controlled transportation. Special Higher Police were created to regulate
motion pictures, political meetings, and election campaigns. Military police
operating under the army and navy aided the police in limiting proscribed
political activity.

     After the surrender in 1945, occupation authorities retained the prewar
police structure until a new system could be implemented and had the Diet pass
a new 1947 Police Law. Contrary to proposals submitted by the Japanese, which
contended that a strong, centralized force was still needed to deal with
postwar unrest, the police system was decentralized by establishing
approximately 1,600 independent municipal forces and a national rural police
organized by prefectures. Civilian control was to be assured by placing the
police under the jurisdiction of public safety commissions controlled by a
National Public Safety Commission in the Office of the Prime Minister. The
Home Ministry was abolished, and the police were stripped of their
responsibility for fire protection, public health, and other administrative
duties.

     The decentralized system was quickly found to be unwieldy, inefficient,
and expensive. It did not provide for exchanges of information among forces
nor for their coordinated employment in cases involving more than one
jurisdiction. Small municipalities could not support police departments, and
accusations of undue influence on local police by community bosses and
gangsters were frequent.

     When the bulk of occupation forces were transferred to Korea, the 75,000
man National Police Reserve was formed to back up the ordinary police during
civil disturbances, and pressure for a centralized system mounted. In 1951 the
1947 Police Law was amended to allow smaller communities to merge with the
National Rural Police. Most opted to do so, and by 1954 only about 400 cities,
towns, and villages still had municipal police forces. Under the 1954 Police
Law (as amended) a final restructuring created an even more centralized system
in which local forces were organized by prefectures under a National Police
Agency.

Organization

     The revised Police Law of 1954, still in effect in 1981, was designed to
preserve the strong points of the postwar system, particularly those measures
insuring civilian control and political neutralism, while rectifying proven
organizational defects. The Public Safety Commission system was retained.
State responsibility for maintaining public order was clarified to include
coordination of national and local efforts, centralization of police
communications, information, and recordkeeping facilities, and administration
of national standards regarding training, uniforms, pay, rank, and promotion.
Rural and municipal forces were abolished and integrated into prefectural
forces which were allotted responsibility for basic police matters. Officials
and inspectors in various ministries and agencies continued to exercise
special police functions assigned to them in the 1947 Police Law.

National

     In 1981 the National Public Safety Commission had the specific purpose of
guaranteeing the neutrality of the police by insulating it from political
pressure and ensuring the maintenance of democratic methods of administration
within the police. The commission's primary function was the supervision of
the National Police Agency (see fig. 18), and it had the authority to appoint
or dismiss senior police officers. The commission consisted of a chairman-who
held the rank of minister of state-and five members appointed by the prime
minister with the consent of both houses of the Diet. The commission operated
independently of the cabinet, but liaison and coordination with the cabinet
were facilitated by the chairman's being a member of that body.

     As the central coordinating body for the entire police system, the
National Police Agency determined overall standards and policies, although
detailed direction of operations was left to the lower echelons. In times of
national emergency or large-scale disaster it was authorized to take command
of prefectural police forces. The agency's authorized strength in 1978 was
about 8,067, of which 2,385 were police officers and 5,682 were civilian
officials. The agency was headed by a commissioner general who was appointed
by the National Public Safety Commission with the approval of the prime
minister.

     In 1981 the agency's central office included a Secretariat with sections
for finance, administrative measures and legislation, and procurement and
distribution of police equipment. The Police Administration Bureau was
concerned with police personnel, education, welfare, training, and unit
inspections. The Criminal Investigation Bureau was in charge of research
statistics and the investigation of nationally important and international
cases. The bureau's Safety Department was responsible for crime prevention,
juvenile delinquency, and pollution control. In addition the division
surveyed, formulated, and recommended legislation pertaining to firearms,
explosives, food, drugs, and narcotics. The Communications Bureau supervised
police communications systems.

     The Traffic Bureau was responsible for licensing drivers, enforcing
traffic safety laws, and controlling and regulating traffic. Intensive traffic
safety and driver education campaigns were run at both the national and
prefectural level. In 1976 a Superhighway Supervising Division was established
to deal with the special conditions on the nation's growing system of express
highways.

     The Security Bureau formulated security control policies for the nation
and supervised their execution. It conducted research regarding equipment and
tactics to be utilized in suppressing riots and oversaw and coordinated
activities of the riot police. The Security Bureau also was responsible for
security intelligence on foreigners in Japan, radical political groups,
violations of the Aliens Registration Law, and administration of the Entry and
Exit Control Law. It was also concerned with the implementation of security
policies during national emergencies, including such disasters as fires,
floods, and earthquakes.

     In 1981 the National Police Agency maintained seven regional police
bureaus, each responsible for an area consisting of several prefectures.
Metropolitan Tokyo and the island of Hokkaido were excluded from the
jurisdictions of the regional bureaus and were run more autonomously than
other local forces, the former because of its urban nature and the latter
because of its special geography. The National Police Agency maintained police
communications divisions in those two areas to handle any necessary
coordination between national and local forces.

Local

     Under the Police Law of 1954 local police affairs were subject to the
control of each prefecture or the Metropolitan District of Tokyo. Local police
personnel in 1978 numbered about 203,000. In 1981 local forces included
forty-five Prefectural Police forces, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, and the
Hokkaido Prefectural Police. They had limited initiative: their most important
activities were regulated by the National Police Agency, which provided funds
for equipment, the salaries of national employees, expenses incurred in riot,
escort, and natural disaster duties, and costs involved in internal security
cases or cases involving several jurisdictions. National police statutes and
regulations established the strength and rank allocations of all local
personnel, as well as the location of local police stations. Prefectural
police financed and controlled the patrolman on the beat, traffic control,
criminal investigation, and other daily police operations.

     Prefectural public safety commissions supervised police agencies within
their respective jurisdictions. In 1981 Metropolitan Tokyo, Hokkaido, and six
prefectures containing major urban areas each had five-member bodies while the
others had three-member commissions. These groups were appointed by the
prefectural governor with the consent of local assemblies. In addition
Hokkaido had a second Public Safety Commission, which was appointed by the
prefectural Public Safety Commission and oversaw four separate area police
headquarters.

     Each prefectural police headquarters contained administrative divisions
similar to those of the bureaus of the National Police Agency. Headquarters
were staffed by specialists in basic police functions and administration and
were commanded by an officer appointed by the local Public Safety Commission.
Most arrests and investigations were performed by district police stations
(and in large jurisdictions, substations), which were established in one or
more central locations within the prefecture. Experienced officers organized
into functional bureaus staffed these units and handled all but the most
ordinary problems in their fields.

     Below these stations were police boxes and residential police boxes,
which formed the first line of police response to the public. Police boxes
were found mainly in urban areas and were manned by several officers. They
served as a base from which foot patrols were made and usually had both
sleeping and eating facilities for officers on duty. Though declining in
number there were still almost twice as many residential as urban police boxes
in 1981. These were found mostly in rural areas and usually were staffed by
one policeman who resided with his family in adjacent quarters. These officers
endeavored to become a part of the community, and their families often aided
in performing official tasks.

     Patrolmen in police boxes had intimate knowledge of their jurisdictions.
One of their primary tasks was to conduct twice-yearly house-by-house
residential surveys of homes in their areas, at which time the head of the
household at each address fills out a residence information card detailing the
names, ages, occupations, business address, and vehicle license numbers of
occupants living there and the names of relatives living elsewhere. Police
took separate note of such things as names of the aged or those living alone
who might need special attention in the event of an emergency. They conducted
surveys of local businesses and recorded employee names and addresses in
addition to such data as which establishments stayed open late and which
employees might be expected to work late. Participation in the survey was
voluntary, and most citizens cooperated. Students and leftists objected most,
calling the survey an invasion of privacy or likening it to the compulsory
survey conducted by the police in prewar times.

     Information elicited through the surveys was not centralized but was
stored in each police box where it was used primarily as an aid in locating
people in each area. When a crime occurred or an investigation was under way,
however, these files were invaluable in establishing background data for a
case. Specialists from district police stations spent considerable time
culling through the usually poorly filed data maintained in the police boxes.

Riot Police

     Within their security divisions each prefectural police department and
the Metropolitan Police maintained a branch manned with special riot units.
Staffed by approximately 15,000 men in the mid-1970s, these units were formed
after riots at the Imperial Palace in 1952 to respond quickly and effectively
to incidents involving mass public disturbances. They were also used in crowd
control during festival periods, at times of natural disaster, and to
reinforce regular police when necessary. Full-time riot police could also be
augmented by regular police trained in riot duties.

     In handling the demonstrations and violent disturbances that occupied
approximately 60 percent of their work, riot units were deployed en masse,
military style. It was common practice for files of riot police to line
streets through which demonstrations passed. If demonstrators grew disorderly
or deviated from officially countenanced areas, riot police stood
shoulder-to-shoulder, sometimes three and four deep to push with their hands
to control crowds. Individual action was forbidden-three-man units sometimes
performed reconnaissance duties, but more often operations were carried out in
units of nine to eleven man squads, twenty-seven to thirty-three man platoons,
and eighty to one hundred man companies. Front ranks were trained to open to
allow passage of special squads to rescue captured police or to engage in tear
gas assaults. Each man wore a radio with an earpiece so that he could hear
commands given simultaneously to his formation.

     The riot police were committed to using disciplined, nonlethal force and
carried no firearms. They were trained to take pride in their poise under
great stress and to listen to taunting crowds for hours without loss of
temper. Their measured but effective behavior commanded the respect of the
nation's citizens and helped to rob violent protest of its legitimacy in
public eyes. Police brutality was rarely an issue. When excesses occurred, the
perpetrator was disciplined and sometimes transferred from the force if
considered unable to keep his temper.

     Extensive experience in quelling violent disorders led to the development
of special uniforms and equipment for the riot police units. In 1981 riot
dress consisted of a field-type jacket, which covered several pieces of body
armor and which included a corselet hung from the waist, an aluminum plate
down the backbone, and shoulder pads. Armored gauntlets covered the hands and
forearms. Helmets had faceplates and flared padded skirts down the back to
protect the neck. In case of violence the front ranks carried four-foot
shields to provide protection against staves and rocks and held nets on high
poles to catch flying objects. Specially designed equipment included water
cannons, armored vans, and mobile tunnels to facilitate protected entry into
seized buildings.

     Because riot police duties required group action, units were maintained
in virtually self-sufficient compounds and trained to work as a coordinated
force. The overwhelming majority of officers were bachelors who lived in
dormitories within riot police compounds. Training was constant and focused on
physical conditioning, mock battles, and tactical problems. A military
atmosphere prevailed-dress codes, behavior standards, and rank
differentiations were more strictly adhered to than in the regular police.
Esprit de corps was inculcated with regular ceremonies and
institutionalization of rituals such as applauding personnel dispatched to or
returning from assignments and formally welcoming senior officers to the mess
hall at all meals.

     Riot duty was not popular since it entailed special sacrifices and much
boredom in between irregularly spaced assignments. Some volunteered, but many
were selected. For many it served as a stepping stone, both for its reputation
and for the opportunities it presented for study for advanced police
examinations necessary for promotion. Because riot duties demanded physical
fitness-the armored uniform weighed 14.5 pounds-most personnel were young,
perhaps serving in the units after an initial assignment in a police box.

Special Police

     In addition to regular police officers, there were several thousand
officials attached to various agencies who performed special duties related to
public safety. They had responsibility for such matters as railway security,
forest preservation, narcotics control, fishery inspection, and enforcement of
regulations on maritime, labor, and mine safety.

     The largest and most important of these ministry-supervised public safety
agencies in 1981 was the Maritime Safety Agency, an external bureau of the
Ministry of Transportation established to deal with crime in coastal waters
and to maintain facilities for safeguarding navigation. The agency employed
almost 11,500 personnel in 1978 and was headed by its director general at
agency headquarters in Tokyo. It operated a fleet of patrol and rescue craft
in addition to a few aircraft used primarily for antismuggling patrols and
rescue activities.

     Other agencies having limited public safety functions included the Labor
Standards Inspection Office of the Ministry of Labor, railway police of the
Japanese National Railways, immigration agents of the Ministry of Justice,
postal inspectors of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, and revenue
inspectors in the Ministry of Finance.

     A small intelligence agency, the Public Security Investigation Office of
the Ministry of Justice, handled national security related matters both in and
outside the country. Staffed by approximately 2,000 personnel, its activities
were not generally publicly known.

Police-Community Relations

     Despite legal limits on police jurisdiction, many citizens retained their
views of the police as figures of authority to whom they could turn for aid.
The public often sought police assistance on matters such as settling family
quarrels, counseling juveniles, and mediating minor disputes. Citizens
regularly consulted police for directions to hotels and residences-an
invaluable service in cities where streets were often unnamed and buildings
numbered, not consecutively, but rather by the order in which they were built.
Police were encouraged by their superiors to look upon these tasks as
answering the public's demands for service and as helpful in inspiring
community confidence in the police. Public attitudes toward the police were,
indeed, generally favorable. Some political groups, leftists and communists in
particular, charged that the police were eager to resume the broad powers they
held in the past, however, and viewed the police with suspicion.

Conditions of Service

     Police law prescribed ten ranks in the force. Entrance was by exam, and
leftist activism by a recruit or any member of his family was grounds for
disqualification. Education was highly stressed. Police schools ran one-year
courses for high school graduates and six-month programs for college graduates
and women. Promotion was by examination and required further course work.
In-service training provided mandatory continuous education in more than one
hundred fields.

     About fifteen officers per year passed advanced civil service exams and
were admitted as senior officers. Officers were groomed for staff positions,
and though some policemen did rise through the ranks to become senior
administrators, most such positions were held by the specially recruited
executive elite.

     The police forces were subject to external oversight. Although public
safety commissions generally deferred to police decisions and rarely exercised
their powers to check police actions or operations, police were liable for
civil and criminal prosecution, and the media actively publicized police
misdeeds. The Human Rights Bureau of the Ministry of Justice solicited and
investigated complaints against public officials, including police, and
prefectural legislatures could summon police chiefs for questioning. Social
sanctions and peer pressure also constrained police behavior. As in other
occupations in Japan, a policeman developed an allegiance to his work group
and a reluctance to offend its principles.