Police procedures questioned / Plainclothesmen at scene of stabbing spree not equipped with radios

The Yomiuri Shimbun

MITO--The eight plainclothes police officers posted in and around JR Arakawaoki Station on the lookout for a man wanted for murder were not equipped with radios and thus were unable to coordinate their actions when the man they were seeking went on a stabbing spree in the station area, it was learned Monday.

The members of the Tsuchiura Police Station's task force investigating the murder of a 72-year-old man in the city were looking for murder suspect Masahiro Kanagawa.

Due to the lack of radio communication, the officers were unable to coordinate with each other, and could not prevent the series of attacks. "Consequently, we couldn't work well. We have to review it," an officer of the investigation team said.

On Sunday, the police task force placed one officer on the southbound platform of the station, one just inside the ticket gates, one just outside the gates, two each on the east and west exits of the station. There is only one ticket gate area at the station. The eighth officer, acting as a leader of the eight, was watching the northbound platform and also patrolling the station.

According to the police, Kanagawa got off a northbound Joban Line train at about 11 a.m. and went though a ticket gate. After allegedly attacking an 18-year-old male high school student, Kanagawa stabbed 29-year-old police officer Yuji Isshiki, who was stationed outside the gates.

Isshiki notified the officer inside the gates, and this officer tried unsuccessfully to pursue Kanagawa.

The prefectural police first learned about the attacks via a phone call informing them that a man with a knife was at the Nagasakiya department store in a nearby shopping center.

Four of the eight officers learned about the attack by calls to their cell phones from the prefectural police and rushed to Nagasakiya to search for the man.

The two officers deployed at the west exit went into the station to aid victims near the ticket gates, according to the police.

The investigation task force said it decided not to issue radios to the officers as earphones from the radios would have allowed Kanagawa to notice the plainclothes officers deployed at the station.

The investigation task force team instructed the eight officers to wear body armor, but they were not carrying sidearms.

According to the National Police Agency and other sources, police chasing a suspect normally use radios to receive instructions and to check each other's locations.

A senior NPA official said, "I must say the way the officers were deployed was problematic. It's regrettable."

Following the incident, the National Police Agency instructed the prefectural police to examine whether there were problems in the search for the suspect and other investigative methods used after Kanagawa had been placed on the wanted list.

According to the police, Kanagawa had been staying in Tokyo since allegedly killing Yoshikazu Miura on Wednesday. On Saturday, Kanagawa reportedly traveled by JR Joban Line train to Arakawaoki Station, where he called the police, saying, "You'd better catch me soon."

On the same day, Kanagawa returned to Tokyo and stayed at a business hotel near JR Akihabara Station, the police said. He returned to Arakawaoki Station on Sunday morning, they said.

Meanwhile, friends and acquaintances of Takahiro Yamagami burned incense and prayed Monday in front of the shopping center in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Prefecture, where he was fatally stabbed.

One woman broke down in tears after placing flowers at the site. "I heard that the Ibaraki prefectural police mobilized 170 officers [to search for Kanagawa]. What were they doing? Isn't their job to protect citizens like us?" she said.

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Woman hurt in knife attack

NAGOYA--A 36-year-old woman was seriously injured after being stabbed in the back with a knife on a street in Naka Ward, Nagoya, early Monday, police said.

According to the police, Yasuko Nakatani, an employee at a restaurant in the city, is believed to have been stabbed by a man at about 3:05 a.m.

With a fruit knife stuck in her back, Nakatani reportedly went to an apartment of her friend on her own and called for an ambulance.
(Mar. 25, 2008)