Cops failed to report missing girl's emergency call

Yamanashi Prefectural Police officials who received an emergency call from missing Tokyo teen Kanako Ishida failed to report the plea to their superiors even though they suspected something amiss, police said.

Metropolitan Police Department officials became aware on April 6 that 19-year-old Ishida was in trouble and had called the police emergency number, but had been unable to confirm whether she was in Yamanashi Prefecture at the time she begged for help.

"We thought there may have been some other response we could have taken," a Yamanashi Prefectural Police force official sad.

A top-ranking Yamanashi Prefectural Police official has slammed the handling of the case.

"From the second they learned her name, the operators should have reported the incident to their superiors," the officer said on condition of anonymity.

Yamanashi Prefectural Police officials said Ishida called the emergency line at about midday on April 6, the last day when any sign of her has been confirmed. Her phone call involved only heavy breathing and was cut off after about 20 seconds.

On several occasions, officials at the police emergency control center called back to the phone she used to make the call, finally getting through after several minutes. An operator asked Ishida where she was, but the teen was in a state of extreme agitation and did not specify what trouble she was facing.

The emergency control center has a staff of four. Up until the morning of April 7, officials made several dozen calls to Ishida's mobile phone, but were unable to connect to it. The officials could not make out the details of the case and had no idea which department should handle it, so did not report it to their superiors. All four officials went off duty at 8:30 a.m. on April 7.

Ishida called her mother shortly after noon on April 6, begging for help, so her father called the police in Tokyo.

Investigators obtained Ishida's mobile phone records and determined she had made the call from within Yamanashi Prefecture. On the afternoon of April 7, the MPD contacted Yamanashi Prefectural Police, alerting them to the case for the first time.

Unemployed Tokyo man Naoki Shiono, 26, has been arrested for the illegal confinement of Ishida, who he met through an online matchmaking site. Shiono was the last person confirmed to have met Ishida and he is suspected of knowing something that may lead to her whereabouts.

女性監禁：１１０番上司に報告せず　山梨県警通信指令室

東京都江戸川区の石田佳奈子さん（１９）が男に監禁され行方不明になっている事件で、石田さんが今月６日に携帯電話で１１０番したものの、通報を受けた山梨県警通信指令室の担当者が不審に思いながら上司へ報告していなかったことが１５日、分かった。警視庁は６日に事件を認知したが、石田さんが同県内にいることをすぐに把握できなかったとみられ、県警地域課は「別の対応があったかもしれない」として検証する考えを示した。　

　同課によると、石田さんからの通報は６日正午ごろ。「はあ、はあ」という息づかいが聞こえ、約２０秒で切れた。指令室が数回かけ直して十数分後につながり、現在地などを尋ねたが、石田さんは非常に興奮した状態で、名前は聞き取れたものの、助けを求める具体的な言葉はなかったという。

　指令室には４人おり、翌日午前７時ごろまでの間に数十回、石田さんの携帯電話へかけたが、つながらなかった。４人は「事案の概要がつかめず、担当課がどこになるか分からなかった」との理由で上司に報告せず、同８時半に交代した。

　石田さんは６日正午すぎ、母親に携帯電話で「助けて」などと連絡したため、父親が警視庁小松川署へ通報。同庁は石田さんの携帯電話の通話履歴を照会して、山梨県内から１１０番していたことを確認した。県警は７日午後、警視庁から連絡を受けて初めて事態を把握したといい、ある県警幹部は「名前が聞き取れた段階で上に報告すべきだった」と不手際を認めている。【藤野基文、曹美河】