Kobe Police Questioning Questioned

[Mulboyne]

[YT]5imHkP7IyGI[/YT]

This video taken in Kobe has become a topic of debate. It has drawn over 650 comments since it was submitted by "minatotetsudo" to YouTube nearly two months ago. The clip shows four police officers aggressively asking the cameraman to identify himself and to accompany them to the koban. The man does not respond to their requests. Most comments are critical of the police although some raise the issue of whether the cameraman should have posted the video, particularly because two of the officers are named. Hyogo police say they have no plans at the moment to ask YouTube to remove the video. ZakZak has an article (Japanese) which mentions that on-the-spot questioning last year led to arrests in around 5,400 cases throughout the prefecture and is regarded by police as a key method available to officers. However, the practice is drawing criticism as photographs and videos of aggressive behaviour have become widely available. This has also led to more people refusing to answer questions or allow searches based on information about their rights posted on numerous websites. One lawyer says that the legal question of who has the rights to the video is unclear but it is only to be expected that more such clips will appear. He is also somewhat supportive of the dilemma for the police because such techniques can get results while they can also lead to false arrests. He suggests that citizens want the public benefits aggressive policing can yield but not encroachment on personal liberty and so both sides must recognize the need for balance.

[Behan]

It would be nice if they could get video of police torture, I mean interrogation, out.

[Buraku]

brilliant!

[TennoChinko]

Horita...

[Sentakki Fried Chicken]

I can't help feeling a little sympathetic for the cops (I know, I know...) in this case. It's quite possible this video has been edited to make them appear even worse than they are and is very one-sided.
The bloke who stated his name (Horikawa?) rightfully pointed out that he had image rights, so I wonder how these will be protected. Probably impossible to do so.
I wouldn't deny the possibility of overly aggressive police existing, but I think the way this particular case is covered is more than a little underhand.

[Mike Oxlong]

The Japanese police have held the upper hand for a very long time. I'm a bit surprised that the moment the tide begins to turn that there's any sympathy for them. It's not like they've completely lost their advantage, or that the score of the past century and change has been evened...

[wuchan]

I film for my "B3" sport as a hobby. Long ago, back in the US, I learned that the first thing you should do when buying a camera is to clip those two pesky wires to the red recording light. A .3 fisheye and proper handling will cover you when the cops try to be tough. Sticking a camera in a cop's face will only piss him off more but if he/she doesn't know he/she is being recorded you can possibly win a nice civil settlement. As far as my run-ins with the J-cops, they seem to get far less aggressive when I ask to see their ID, AND THEN USE MY PHONE TO TAKE A PICTURE OF IT...... of course I show my Gcard after the photo session.

[Gilligan]

The Japanese police have held the upper hand for a very long time. I'm a bit surprised that the moment the tide begins to turn that there's any sympathy for them. It's not like they've completely lost their advantage, or that the score of the past century and change has been evened...

Stockholm syndrome

[Sentakki Fried Chicken]

The Japanese police have held the upper hand for a very long time. I'm a bit surprised that the moment the tide begins to turn that there's any sympathy for them. It's not like they've completely lost their advantage, or that the score of the past century and change has been evened...

I don't entirely disagree with you, but think this particular case smells strongly of a set-up and deliberate provocation. I don't like that the maker has completely cut out whatever involvement they had in the incident. Who knows what they were saying/doing?
Eventually, these types of tactics will backfire and only serve as excuses in justifying the police getting even more powers. And, surprisingly, widespread public sympathy, I guess.

[Uthark_Runa]

I have no love for over agressive cops, but this video is garbage. It is heavily edited, and the cameraman looks to have provoked them to get the reaction he wanted. Like an earlier poster said this video will not do any good, and probably give more power to the police.

[kusai Jijii]

[kusai Jijii]

[Sentakki Fried Chicken]

[Sentakki Fried Chicken]

Further to the above, I should add that I'll take the cops from Japan over the generally intimidating thugs found in most of the English-speaking world.
You've really got to do something wrong to get on their bad side here. Overseas, sometimes the cops just like to show you how much power they have. I've never seen that kind of abuse here (not to say that it doesn't happen...I've just never seen it).

[Greji]

[Takechanpoo]

[GomiGirl]

Welcome to our world Take-chan.

[Behan]

[kusai Jijii]

Maybe I should have made it clearer that I was referring to the officers in the video, not in general.

No worries. But let me be clear. The cops in the video, which may or may not have been edited, illustrate my point to the letter. To think that, by simple virtue of being a Japanese police officer, you could walk up to someone and demand their name, and then start 'yak talking' them when you dont feel the love, suggests that you (the cops in the video, not you personally Sentaki) are an arrogant, idiotic, egotisitical, small fuckstick. Admittedly, we will never know if the cameraman had done something to arouse the cops suspicion. He may, but he also may not have. Equally, we dont know if he was mentally stable. He may have been, but he also may not have been. There are 1000 more appropriate ways the pigs could have dealt with the situation than rough talking the guy. So fuck 'em.
And lets not mince words here. These pigs are the same gutless cunts that look the other way when yaks double park outside railway stations, and they are the same cunts that would rather do 'stolen bicyle checks' than raids on whore houses full of illegally trafficed Asian sex workers. Random gajin card checks are a matter of national security for these dickheads. Getting Bosozoku off the streets is 'muzukashii'. Spineless, gutless jellifish, the whole fucking lot of 'em.
As a tax payer, I have ZERO respect for the cops here.

[Behan]

No worries. But let me be clear. The cops in the video, which may or may not have been edited, illustrate my point to the letter. To think that, by simple virtue of being a Japanese police officer, you could walk up to someone and demand their name, and then start 'yak talking' them when you dont feel the love, suggests that you (the cops in the video, not you personally Sentaki) are an arrogant, idiotic, egotisitical, small fuckstick. Admittedly, we will never know if the cameraman had done something to arouse the cops suspicion. He may, but he also may not have. Equally, we dont know if he was mentally stable. He may have been, but he also may not have been. There are 1000 more appropriate ways the pigs could have dealt with the situation than rough talking the guy. So fuck 'em.
And lets not mince words here. These pigs are the same gutless cunts that look the other way when yaks double park outside railway stations, and they are the same cunts that would rather do 'stolen bicyle checks' than raids on whore houses full of illegally trafficed Asian sex workers. Random gajin card checks are a matter of national security for these dickheads. Getting Bosozoku off the streets is 'muzukashii'. Spineless, gutless jellifish, the whole fucking lot of 'em.
As a tax payer, I have ZERO respect for the cops here.

[Sentakki Fried Chicken]

And lets not mince words here.

You certainly didn't do that!!!:p

I won't argue with what you're saying and I certainly don't side with The Man. I just thought it was a bit rough that they were getting hassled on all sides without the whole story being told.
My biggest fear is that this one-sidenesses and everyone jumping on the bandwagon to attack will have sad repurcussions for us all. And The Man will end up laughing.

[Ketou]

[Mulboyne]

The role of the police is changing in Japan and it reminds me a good deal of the major changes brought on in Britain by the Operation Countryman investigation nearly 30 years ago. The Japanese police force, like the British and American forces of old, got used to being seen as unquestioned authority figures. They are losing this status now just as the UK and US police did. Ironically, just as police became more accountable, popular culture in the West began to celebrate "maverick" policemen who "broke the rules" which points up the dilemma society faces. We want ineffective or corrupt police to be reined in by checks and balances so we can be certain that we are not wrongly accused but we also want good officers to be given a free hand, unconstrained by red tape, so they can follow their instincts and bring down the bad guys. It just isn't possible to have both so we always have to consider what balance works best.

There are many social factors which led to a public loss of trust in the police in the US and UK but many of them only began to surface in Japan once the bubble burst. The police have drawn criticism in a several cases where they have pursued the wrong suspects, withheld evidence or fabricated evidence, failed to respond to appeals for help with fatal consequences etc etc. There have also been numerous examples of police slush funds which have been fraudulently acquired. Importantly, these cases have been reported by the mainstream media which might have overlooked them before. On 2ch, there was dissatisfaction when police began targeting otaku types because some were carrying knives to ward off attackers who had come to see them as easy prey for a mugging. Information quickly circulated about what rights individuals had and this has led to an increase in people standing up to the police.

Take the example in this video clip. As the article says, random interrogations on the street are one way the police can develop a lead to make an arrest or else prevent a crime. The technique relies on the interviewee being awed into compliance. In another age, the police would have encountered this bloke on the street, asked him questions and he would have replied in an instant. They then would have told him to clear off or left him alone, probably making a note of his name in either case. Instead, he refuses to answer - or replies to them in a way which has been edited out of the clip - and they respond with increased suspicion and antagonism at what they see as a lack of respect. They can't however, do anything.

It's no easy thing to regain trust when it has been lost as the police found out in the US and UK where they are still to recover the respected status they once had. In the immediate term, the police in Japan need to explain their policing methods more clearly to the public to win back their cooperation. It may well be that they have to rethink the old ways of doing things if they are too antagonistic. I would imagine there are many areas of modern policing which have not been developed in Japan and it may be that these need to be introduced to make up for restrictions elsewhere. For instance, we know there is a shortage of pathologists in Japan which means post mortems are conducted less often than we would expect in the west. If the police force is like any other bureaucracy in Japan, there is probably inadequate IT infrastructure, inadequate training and an unhealthy working culture which all would need addressing without destroying the morale of individual officers.

The police aren't the only voice of authority to be question in Japan in recent years. Doctors are being sued for malpractice and patients seem more prepared to consider seeking a second opinion. Educators are also in the spotlight with questions about bribes and rigged exams at universities and teachers brought to account for inappropriate or violent conduct. It's not all one-way traffic though. There is just as much coverage of "monster parents" who make unreasonable demands on teachers as there is of a high school baseball coach who makes his charges run around a field naked in winter to "build character". What such examples show is a society trying to work out what the new unwritten rules are and I suspect that video clip of the cops is playing a similar role. The risk is of a lurch to an extreme which could happen if the police are brought to account, crime rises and the population decides to hand them sweeping powers to deal with it.

[Greji]

I don't mind a cop on the take as long as it's me that he's getting his take from...

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Fraudster had manual for police questioning

A member of a bank transfer scam group was found when he was arrested last month carrying a manual with instructions on how to handle police questioning, it has been learned. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the group member was found with the document titled "Countermeasures for Police Questioning," when they arrested him in early February. They believe the group compiled the manual to help members in case they were ever questioned by the police on the street. The document reportedly states, referring to Article 2 of the Police Execution of Duties Law, that there is no obligation to respond to police questions as a person cannot be questioned against their will if no sound reason has been given to suspect involvement in a crime. It also instructs how to react if police ask to search bags or other belongings, stating: "Police must obtain a search warrant issued by the courts to check your belongings. Without the warrant, you do not have to accept the search request."