As of 2020, the total strength of the prefectural police is approximately 260,000 sworn officers and 28,400 civilian staff, a total of 288,400 employees.[4]
In the Empire of Japan, territorial police forces were organised as departments of police of each prefectural offices (府県警察部, fuken-keisatsu-bu). They were placed under complete centralized control, with the Police Affairs Bureau (警保局, Keiho-kyoku) of the Home Ministry at their core.[5]
After the surrender of Japan, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers regarded this centralized police system as undemocratic. During the occupation of Japan, the principle of decentralisation was introduced by the 1947 Police Law (警察法, Keisatsu-hō) (now commonly referred to as "Old Police Law"). Cities and large towns had their own municipal police services (自治体警察, jichitai keisatsu), and the National Rural Police (国家地方警察, Kokka Chihō Keisatsu) was responsible for smaller towns, villages and rural areas.[6] However, most Japanese municipalities were too small to have an effectively large police force, so sometimes they were unable to deal with large-scale violence. In addition, excessive fragmentation of the police organisation reduced the efficiency of police activities.[7]
As a response to these problems, complete restructuring created a more centralized system under the 1954 amended Police Law (警察法, Keisatsu-hō). All operational units except for the Imperial Guard were reorganized into the prefectural police departments for each prefecture and the National Police Agency was established as the central coordinating agency for these police departments.[8]
Organisation
Each prefectural police department comprises a police authority and operational units: Prefectural Public Safety Commissions (PPSC) and Prefectural Police Headquarters (PPH).[3]
Prefectural Public Safety Commissions (都道府県公安委員会, todōfuken kōan īnkai) are administrative committees established under the jurisdiction of prefectural governors to provide citizen oversight for police activities. A committee consists of three members in an ordinary prefecture and five members in urban prefectures. The members of prefectural public safety commission are appointed by the governor with the consent of the prefectural assembly.[8]
In Tokyo, the Prefectural Police Headquarters (警察本部, keisatsu-honbu) specifically refers to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (警視庁, Keishi-chō, TMPD). Also, Hokkaido Prefectural Police Headquarters is known as dō-keisatsu-honbu (道警察本部), and those in Ōsaka and Kyoto Prefectures are known as fu-keisatsu-honbu (府警察本部), and are distinguished from other Prefectural Police Headquarters (県警察本部, ken-keisatsu-honbu).[8]
The Chiefs of Prefectural police headquarters (警察本部長, keisatsu-honbu-chō) are appointed officials at the top of the chain of command in each Prefectural Police Headquarters. In the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, the name of Superintendent General (警視総監, Keishi-sōkan) is used.[8]
These police departments are responsible for every police actions within their jurisdiction in principle, but most important activities are regulated by the National Police Agency. Police officers whose rank are higher than assistant commissioner (警視正, keishi-sei) are salaried by the national budget even if they belong to local police departments. Designation and dismissal of these high-ranking officers are delegated to the National Public Safety Commission.[9]
Each Prefectural police headquarters contains administrative departments (bureaus in the TMPD) corresponding to those of the bureaus of the National Police Agency as follows:[10]
Community safety department (生活安全部, seikatsu-anzen-bu)
In addition, urban prefectural police departments comprise a general affairs department (総務部, sōmu-bu) and a community police department (地域部, chiiki-bu).[10]
There are some 289,000 police officers nationwide, about 97% of whom were affiliated with Prefectural Police Headquarters.[11]
Community policing
A police officer talking to children in front of a kōban
In the Japanese police, community policing is treated as being close to crime prevention, and in rural prefectural police, community safety departments in charge of crime prevention sometimes concurrently handle community policing. Community policing officers are organised into several police stations (警察署, Keisatsu-sho). Each station includes the following sections:[12]
Police administration section (警務課, keimu-ka)
Traffic section (交通課, kōtsu-ka)
Security section (警備課, keibi-ka)
Community police affairs section (地域課, chiiki-ka)
Community safety section (生活安全課, seikatsu-anzen-ka)
Criminal investigation section (刑事課, keiji-ka)
Officers of the community police affairs sections are distributed in their jurisdictions, working at police boxes (交番, Kōban), residential police boxes (駐在所, Chūzai-sho), radio mobile patrols, etc.[13]
These community policing officers are supported by the community police department or the community safety department of the prefectural police headquarters. In addition to the administration of the police radio networks, they provide inter-regional patrol units and air support: automobile patrols (自動車警ら隊, jidōsha-keira-tai) and a police aviation unit (警察航空隊, keisatsu-kōku-tai), and many other assets.[13]
Originally traffic policing was mainly done by community policing officers. However, with the progress of motorization since the 1950s, traffic accidents have increased dramatically, resulting in the so-called traffic war, the system of traffic police was also strengthened.[14]
From the mid-1960s, mobile patrol units were installed at several PPHs, and in 1972 they were installed at all traffic departments of the PPHs as Mobile Traffic Units (交通機動隊, Kōtsu-kidō-tai). Traffic cars (including unmarked cars) and police motorcycles are deployed in these units. And as the development of the expressway advanced, the establishment of the Expressway Traffic Police Units (高速道路交通警察隊, Kōsoku-dōro kōtsu-keisatsu-tai) was also decided in 1971.[14]
Criminal investigation departments or criminal investigation bureaus maintain two investigation divisions (捜査課, sousa-ka) (third or even fourth divisions are established in some urban prefecture), an organised crime investigation division (組織犯罪対策課, soshikihanzai-taisaku-ka) (reinforced as an independent department or headquarters in the TMPD and some prefectures), a mobile investigation unit, and an identification division (鑑識課, kanshiki-ka). The mobile investigation units (機動捜査隊, kidō sousa-tai) are first responders for initial criminal investigations, distributed among the region with unmarked cars. The special investigation teams (特殊事件捜査係, tokushu-jiken sousa-kakari) are specialised detective units of the first investigation divisions, well acquainted with new technology and special tactics including tactical capabilities.[15] They are mandated for critical incidents except for terrorism,[16] but in some rural but well-versed prefectural police like Aomori Prefectural Police, these detectives can form a counterterrorism task force together with uniformed officers and riot specialists.[17]
In the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, the jurisdiction for public security policing is divided into the Public Security Bureau (公安部, Kōan-bu) and Security Bureau (警備部, Keibi-bu), being responsible for investigation activities and security forces operations, respectively. In other PPHs, their security departments are in charge of all public security policing matters; but in the departments, they are divided in the same way as they are done by the MPD. They are supervised by the Security Bureau of the National Police Agency.[18]
Counterterrorism operations are also the affairs of the security departments. The Special Assault Teams (特殊急襲部隊, Tokushu Kyūshū Butai) are the national-level units and Anti-Firearms Squads (銃器対策部隊, Jūki-taisaku-butai) are the local units.[20] These units are established within the RPU basically, but the SAT of the TMPD and Osaka PPH are under direct control of their Security Bureau (TMPD) or Department (Osaka PPH).[16]
A prefectural police officer's career starts from this rank
The National Police Agency Commissioner General holds the highest position of the Japanese police.[23] His title is not a rank, but rather denotes his position as head of the NPA. On the other hand, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Superintendent General represents not only the highest rank in the system but also assignment as head of the TMPD.[23]
Equipment
Police officers with standard uniforms and revolvers
In the pre-war period, police officers wore jackets with a stand-up collar. In 1946, the jacket was changed to four-buttons, open-collar style with vent and in 1950, a new police duty belt to wear gun and baton was adopted. But at this point, the uniforms of the National Rural Police and the municipal police differed in details.[24]
During a reorganization in 1954, uniforms were to be unified across the country, but because that would take time, only the class chapter was unified at this time. After that, in 1956, a new uniform was adopted. The jacket became the turned-down collar style with three buttons, and the vent was done away with. Also, at this time, the summer clothes became grey, but in 1968 it was changed to greyish blue.[25] On 1 April 1994, current uniform design was adopted across all of Japan.[26]
Through the campaign against the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States and Japan at the end of the 1960s, helmets and protective gear for riot police officers were improved.[27] On the other hand, general police officers were wearing blade-deflecting vests under uniforms so that they would not be noticeable, but since 2005, a strong stab vest to overlay on the uniform was adopted. And in the case of gun violence, bulletproof vests and helmets are also equipped.[28] Ordinary police officers, riot police officers, SWAT detectives, and counter-terrorism operators use different vests of different standards.[29]
In the beginning, the makes and models of these sidearms varied, but M1911 pistols and M1917 revolvers, Smith & Wesson Military & Police and Colt Official Police were issued as the mostly standard sidearms. The .38 calibre revolvers were well-received, but .45 calibre handguns were too large to carry for somewhat small officers, especially women. And M1917 revolvers in particular were obsolete, deteriorated significantly, and so malfunction or reduced accuracy had been a problem. As a response to these issues, the National Rural Police Headquarters started to import small .38 Special calibre revolvers such as Smith & Wesson Chiefs Special and Colt Detective Special. During the 1960s, procurement began to migrate to the domestic Minebea "New Nambu" M60. When the production of the M60 was completed in the 1990s, deployment of small semi-automatic pistols was considered, but this plan was abandoned after small numbers of SIG Sauer P230 were deployed. Finally, imports from the United States were resumed, with S&W M37 and M360 revolvers having been purchased for uniformed officers. Their duty ammo is the Remington 158 grain lead round nose.[31][better source needed] And some elite detectives, bodyguards, or counter-terrorism units such as the Special Assault Team being equipped with 9×19mm Parabellum calibre semi-automatic pistols such as the Heckler & Koch USP.[32]
From sometime in the 1970s, the Special Armed Police (ancestor of the Special Assault Team of the TMPD) introduced Heckler & Koch MP5A5/SD6/K submachine guns. From 2002, local counter-terrorism units (anti-firearms squads) were started to be equipped with MP5F, and there are also assault rifles in the SAT and urban AFS units. Tactical units of crime branches (Special Investigation Team of the TMPD, for example) also introduced a semi-automatic pistol-caliber carbine variant of MP5K (unofficially called the MP5SFK).[32]
With the exception of unmarked vehicles, all PPHs vehicles are painted and marked in the same ways. Ordinary police vehicles are painted black and white with the upper parts of the vehicle painted white. Motorcycles are usually all white. Vehicles for riot police units are painted blue and white, and especially vehicles for the Rescue Squads of the TMPD are painted green and white.[34]
In Japan, the deployment of police helicopters began in 1960. They are extensively used for traffic reporting, searches for suspects, search and rescue, airlift, and other missions.[35] Approximately 80 police helicopters are operated nationwide. Some helicopters are equipped with stabilised TV camera and microwave link systems.[36]
Police watercraft of Japan are divided into five groups: 23-meter type, 20-meter type, 17-meter type, 12-meter type, 8-meter type. As of 2014, 159 vessels are deployed nationwide.[37] Since the Japan Coast Guard is in charge of law enforcement outside ports, police watercraft are primarily used to patrol ports and rivers, though they are sometimes also used to assist land-based units or patrol islands.[38]
All Prefectural Police Headquarters, except for the Hokkaidō Prefectural Police Department (due to the prefecture's large size) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (due to the Tokyo's special status as the capital), are under the central coordination for operations monitoring and wide area investigation by the Regional Police Bureaus (管区警察局, Kanku Keisatsu-kyoku) of the National Police Agency:[11]
Hokkaidō Prefectural Police Department (北海道警察, Hokkaidō-keisatsu)
^In the Article 2 of the Police Law (警察法, Keisatsu-hō), responsibilities and duties of the police are prescribed as follows: to protect the life, physical body and property of an individual, and take charge of prevention, suppression and investigation of crimes, as well as apprehension of suspects, traffic control and other affairs concerning the maintenance of public safety and order.[2]
^Official name is Keira-you-musen-jidōsha (警ら用無線自動車).
^Official name is Kōtsu-torishimari-you-yonrinsha (交通取締用四輪車).
^Official name is Ōgata-yusō-sha (大型輸送車), mainly used as troop transportation.
^Official name is Jōchū-keibi-sha (常駐警備車), mainly used as mobile barriers and shelters for police units.
^Official name is Tamokuteki-saigai-katudou-sha (多目的災害活動車).
^ ab"4. Human Resources"(PDF). (警察庁) National Police Agency. National Police Agency. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2016-10-25. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
^"Insignia of the JSDF personnel". JSDF Kumamoto Provincial Cooperation office. Japan Self Defense Force. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
![Toyota Crown: Radio mobile patrol[Note 2]](File:Kanagawa-200Crown.JPG)
![Toyota Crown: Mobile traffic patrol[Note 3]](File:Japanese_police_car_1.jpg)
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![Isuzu Giga: Armoured bus[Note 5]](File:Jochukeibi.jpg)
![Unimog: Off-road emergency vehicle[Note 6]](File:Unimog-Tamokutekisaigaikatudou.jpg)
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