Detective copied porn seized as evidence, took it home to watch

FUNABASHI, Chiba -- A Chiba Prefectural Police detective is being questioned over allegations that he ordered an underling to copy pornography seized as evidence so he could take it home and watch it, the Mainichi has learned.

Police internal affairs officials are questioning the man, who is now a superintendent overseeing police detainees.

Chiba Prefectural Police are remaining tight-lipped about the case.

"I refuse to comment about cases, including about whether I issued orders (to copy the movies)," the policeman under a cloud told the Mainichi.

Sources close to the case say police seized a cache of porn from a Funabashi wholesaler arrested for possession of indecent materials with intent to sale in September 2006. The detective selected several videos where the genitalia had not been blotted out with a digital mosaic and ordered an assistant inspector working under him to copy them. The videos were copied at the Funabashi Higashi Police Station, with several police officers witnessing the procedure and none of them stopping it from happening.

There is nothing illegal about watching pornographic DVDs copied by a third party, but materials seized as evidence in suspected crimes are controlled by police stations and individuals are strictly forbidden from removing these items.

Takeshi Domoto, a former prosecutor with the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office and now a professor of criminal law at Hakuoh University, said there is a risk the police could have broken the law.

"If he has shown the copied DVD to another person, there is a chance it may constitute proliferation of indecent images," the law expert said. "Police are forbidden from removing evidence for personal use and if the facts behind this case are correct, it suggests considerable laxity."

ＤＶＤ疑惑：刑事官、押収ポルノ複製させ持ち帰る　千葉

　千葉県警船橋東署の刑事官だった警視＝現県警留置管理課管理官＝が、事件の証拠品であるポルノＤＶＤを署内で部下にダビングさせ、自宅へ持ち帰っていた疑いがあることが１４日、分かった。県警監察官室は元刑事官らの事情聴取に乗り出した。

　関係者によると、ＤＶＤは０６年９月、船橋市の販売業者が同署にわいせつ図画販売目的所持容疑で逮捕された事件に関連して押収された。元刑事官はモザイク処理などをしていないＤＶＤ数本を、捜査を担当した警部補にダビングさせ、観賞用に自分で持ち帰った。ダビングは署内で行われ、複数の警察官が目撃していたが、制止しなかったという。

　第三者がポルノＤＶＤをダビングし、個人で観賞するのは違法ではないとされるが、県警が押収した証拠品は、署内の倉庫などでの管理が本部長訓令で定められ、個人の持ち出しは禁止されている。

　毎日新聞の取材に対し、元刑事官は「（ダビングを）指示をしたかどうかも含め、事件のことは話せない」と説明している。

　▽元最高検検事の土本武司・白鴎大法科大学院教授（刑法）の話　ダビングしたＤＶＤを他人に見せていればわいせつ図画頒布罪の疑いがある。証拠品を私的目的で持ち出すことは禁止されており、事実であれば緊張感の緩みがあったと考えられる。

Mainichi

February 15, 2008