Japan Rethinks 24/7 Police Boxes With Rise of Cybercrime (nikkei.com) 12
Japan is overhauling how its ubiquitous 24-hour mini-police stations are operated nationwide as more crime fighting moves from the streets to the web. From a report: Called koban in Japanese, officers at these small police boxes handle a variety of tasks from responding to crime and patrolling neighborhoods to handling lost items. There are also chuzaisho outposts where police officers live full-time. The National Police Agency will update operational rules on Friday to allow some outposts to shut down at night if necessary. It will also allow greater flexibility on the use of mobile or temporary outposts, depending on local needs and staffing considerations.
Prefectural police will decide on changes involving specific outposts. Japan's koban system dates back to 1874 and is believed to have started operating around the clock in the 1880s. There were 6,215 kobans and 5,923 live-in outposts across Japan as of April. They have inspired countries like Singapore and Brazil to set up similar outposts focused on community policing. The change comes amid shifting crime patterns. Roughly 700,000 crime cases were reported in 2023, down more than 70% from the post-World War II peak in 2002. Street crime, like purse-snatching and car break-ins, were down around 80% to 240,000 cases. Instead, online and phone-based crimes, like impersonation scams and romance scams, are on the rise.
Prefectural police will decide on changes involving specific outposts. Japan's koban system dates back to 1874 and is believed to have started operating around the clock in the 1880s. There were 6,215 kobans and 5,923 live-in outposts across Japan as of April. They have inspired countries like Singapore and Brazil to set up similar outposts focused on community policing. The change comes amid shifting crime patterns. Roughly 700,000 crime cases were reported in 2023, down more than 70% from the post-World War II peak in 2002. Street crime, like purse-snatching and car break-ins, were down around 80% to 240,000 cases. Instead, online and phone-based crimes, like impersonation scams and romance scams, are on the rise.
What could possibly go wrong? (Score:1)
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There's only so much police to go around though. The criminals are taking advantage of reduced police presence - by being online, where the cops currently aren't.
It's like how in the USA I'd much prefer the police stop putting so much effort into the drug war and start going after online scams, porch pirates, and such.
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Japan is a different story than the US. Even if there are fewer police, people know that the conviction rate for any crime is going to be all but certain, and Japanese jails/prisons are not exactly vacation spots, to the point where ADX would be a luxury vacation. Asian prisons are no joke. Japan also has a lot of cameras, and being a small nation, can track people down fairly easily.
Because of this, and the amount of lost face by someone doing a crime, and the respect people have for law and order, even
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Sort of but not really. Opportunistic crime with low risk is still very present.
My wife is Japanese and grew up in the suburbs of Osaka. One day, when we were living in Germany, she forgot part of the shopping (laundry detergent) in the parking lot of the supermarket. She realized as soon as we were back home, so we drove back "just in case" but ready to purchase it again otherwise. The round trip took one hour. She was shocked that it was still there, someone had moved slightly to the side so it wouldn't b
Right level of policing? (Score:1)
Not much crime there (Score:3)
A friend of my son works in Tokyo, and he said they have almost no crime there.
Of course, he grew up in Memphis, so his baseline is pretty damn high.
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The crimes are different as well. Pickpocketing is something that used to be unheard of in the US, but because phones are an easy $1000 if someone grabs that [1], pickpocketing is coming back. Other countries don't have drug addiction issues on a public scale like the US [2], so the crimes tend to be deliberate and a lot less violent. Other countries don't have a political party that encourages crime as well, where prosecutors will not prosecute anything like theft, larceny, or burglaries of vehicles, be
Commit a crime, go to jail (Score:2)
Japan isn't a country where a good lawyer can keep you out of prison or can turn your prison sentence into a fine.
Commit a crime and usually you will have to do some time.
If you commit the crime again, the sentence gets heavier and you'll have to do more crime.
Here is a design for a mini-police station (Score:3)
I feel certain that the Japanese will love it [bbc.co.uk].