SAPPORO -- A police sergeant arrested for possessing stimulants has admitted that he is addicted to the drug, police said.
Hideyoshi Sasaki, 35, a sergeant at a police box in front of JR Sapporo Station, stands accused of violating the Stimulants Control Law.
"I began to use stimulants two years ago because I was exhausted from caring for an ailing family member. I became addicted to the drug. I'm sorry," he was quoted as telling investigators. "I last used stimulants on Monday."
He was arrested after he turned himself in to a police station late Tuesday night, possessing a syringe and stimulants and accompanied by his mother and other relatives.
Sasaki allegedly bought the illegal drug after obtaining a dealer's contact number on the Internet.
覚せい剤：札幌中央署の巡査部長逮捕 親族付き添い自首
札幌中央署は２０日、札幌市北区新琴似１１の３、同署地域課巡査部長で札幌駅前交番に勤務する佐々木英嘉（ひでよし）容疑者（３５）を覚せい剤取締法違反（所持）の疑いで逮捕した。佐々木容疑者が同日夜、母親など親族に付き添われ、覚せい剤と注射器を持って自首した。佐々木容疑者は使用や入手経路について自供しており、道警は裏付け捜査を進める。
調べでは、佐々木容疑者はビニール袋入りの覚せい剤５袋を所持した疑い。「２年ぐらい前から病気の家族の介護疲れで使用するようになった。覚せい剤に依存し、こうなってしまい申し訳ない」と話しているという。
インターネットで覚せい剤の売買情報を入手、携帯電話で連絡を取るなどして購入していたらしい。自首時に持参した覚せい剤は１１月初旬に購入し、「最後に使用したのは１９日。注射器で使用した」と供述しているという。腕には複数の注射痕があった。家族が佐々木容疑者の様子がおかしいと問いただした際、覚せい剤使用を打ち明けた。
佐々木容疑者は９７年４月に道警に採用された後、札幌東署地域課や生活安全課などで勤務し、今年４月に札幌中央署へ異動した。体調を崩して９月１２日から入院し、１０月３１日に退院した後は２０日まで自宅療養していた。
道警では０２年７月に生活特別捜査班長だった警部が同法違反（使用）容疑で逮捕されている。
谷口茂樹・監察官室長は「警察官にあるまじき行為で遺憾。今後、厳正に処分する」とコメントを出した。
Mainichi
November 21, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
'Love letters' reduce recidivism among teens
The Yomiuri Shimbun
"Love letters" sent by police to delinquent teenagers have proved successful in opening up their minds and encouraging them not to reoffend.
Since April last year, letters have been sent to about 100 boys and girls arrested for criminal offenses or held in police custody in areas under the jurisdiction of Morioka Higashi Police Station of the Iwate prefectural police.
Named "Ai no Reta," they are written by four female police officers who belong to the station's Community Safety Section. The number of letters written over the period has topped 130.
In the process of exchanging letters with the teenagers, the section has received letters from some of the boys saying, "I'm so happy when I read the letters, I feel close to tears."
The recidivism rate so far this year in the areas under the jurisdiction of the police station has dropped to one-third of the corresponding period last year.
With the central part of Morioka under its jurisdiction, the police station had seen a high recidivism rate of juvenile delinquency before the "letter campaign" was launched.
To ensure recipients of the letters do not feel wary about the letters, the name of the sender is not written on the envelopes. The end of each letter itself is signed "From all those at Morioka Higashi Police Station."
One girl who was held in custody in the summer of last year after repeatedly running away from home sent a reply to a female police officer with whom she exchanged letters over a period of about one year, saying, "I really regret how stupid I used to be."
When the female officer sent a letter to the girl for the first time on her birthday in October last year, she sent back a reply full of complaints about school and the people around her. "I've no energy" and "I've no intention whatsoever of trying to understand the feelings of my mother" were among the comments she wrote. Among all the harsh language used by the girl, the officer sensed her loneliness and continued to send letters to the girl.
The officer has continued corresponding with the girl, who went on to express her difficulties in adjusting to a new environment after moving out of the prefecture. The officer told the girl, "It's OK to cry when you feel sad or things seem hard." As their correspondence continued, the girl started to use gentler language and some polite language. She eventually acknowledged that she did actually want to live with her mother after all.
The recidivism rate by boys in areas under the jurisdiction of Morioka Higashi Police Station dropped to 7 percent in the January-October period this year, down drastically from 21 percent recorded in the same period last year. The 7 percent figure is far below the national average of 30 percent for last year.
The female police officer who exchanged letters with the girl said: "I also felt lonely at school, but I was able to overcome the feeling because of the support of the people around me. It's good if we can accept and understand their loneliness even a little."
(Nov. 20, 2007)
"Love letters" sent by police to delinquent teenagers have proved successful in opening up their minds and encouraging them not to reoffend.
Since April last year, letters have been sent to about 100 boys and girls arrested for criminal offenses or held in police custody in areas under the jurisdiction of Morioka Higashi Police Station of the Iwate prefectural police.
Named "Ai no Reta," they are written by four female police officers who belong to the station's Community Safety Section. The number of letters written over the period has topped 130.
In the process of exchanging letters with the teenagers, the section has received letters from some of the boys saying, "I'm so happy when I read the letters, I feel close to tears."
The recidivism rate so far this year in the areas under the jurisdiction of the police station has dropped to one-third of the corresponding period last year.
With the central part of Morioka under its jurisdiction, the police station had seen a high recidivism rate of juvenile delinquency before the "letter campaign" was launched.
To ensure recipients of the letters do not feel wary about the letters, the name of the sender is not written on the envelopes. The end of each letter itself is signed "From all those at Morioka Higashi Police Station."
One girl who was held in custody in the summer of last year after repeatedly running away from home sent a reply to a female police officer with whom she exchanged letters over a period of about one year, saying, "I really regret how stupid I used to be."
When the female officer sent a letter to the girl for the first time on her birthday in October last year, she sent back a reply full of complaints about school and the people around her. "I've no energy" and "I've no intention whatsoever of trying to understand the feelings of my mother" were among the comments she wrote. Among all the harsh language used by the girl, the officer sensed her loneliness and continued to send letters to the girl.
The officer has continued corresponding with the girl, who went on to express her difficulties in adjusting to a new environment after moving out of the prefecture. The officer told the girl, "It's OK to cry when you feel sad or things seem hard." As their correspondence continued, the girl started to use gentler language and some polite language. She eventually acknowledged that she did actually want to live with her mother after all.
The recidivism rate by boys in areas under the jurisdiction of Morioka Higashi Police Station dropped to 7 percent in the January-October period this year, down drastically from 21 percent recorded in the same period last year. The 7 percent figure is far below the national average of 30 percent for last year.
The female police officer who exchanged letters with the girl said: "I also felt lonely at school, but I was able to overcome the feeling because of the support of the people around me. It's good if we can accept and understand their loneliness even a little."
(Nov. 20, 2007)
Monday, November 19, 2007
Police investigator arrested for crashing car while driving drunk
SHIMONOSEKI, Yamaguchi -- A police investigator has been arrested for causing a car crash on a national highway here while driving under the influence of alcohol, police said.
Yukio Yasuda, 51, a sergeant at Shimonoseki Police Station's second criminal investigation division, stands accused of violating the Road Traffic Law. He admitted to the allegations during questioning.
"I drank four or five glasses of shochu (a kind of distilled liquor) before driving. I'm terribly sorry," Yasuda was quoted as telling his bosses.
Yamaguchi Prefectural Police were apologetic about the incident. "It's indeed regrettable. We'll take strict punitive measures against him after getting to the bottom of the incident," said Sadao Ishida, a senior official with the force's inspection office.
At around 9:55 p.m. on Sunday, Yasuda crashed his car into a vehicle that was stopped at a red traffic light along Route 9 in Shimonoseki, local police said. A breath test found that he was under the influence of alcohol. The 41-year-old woman who was driving the car that was crashed by Yasuda's vehicle was not injured.
Yukio Yasuda, 51, a sergeant at Shimonoseki Police Station's second criminal investigation division, stands accused of violating the Road Traffic Law. He admitted to the allegations during questioning.
"I drank four or five glasses of shochu (a kind of distilled liquor) before driving. I'm terribly sorry," Yasuda was quoted as telling his bosses.
Yamaguchi Prefectural Police were apologetic about the incident. "It's indeed regrettable. We'll take strict punitive measures against him after getting to the bottom of the incident," said Sadao Ishida, a senior official with the force's inspection office.
At around 9:55 p.m. on Sunday, Yasuda crashed his car into a vehicle that was stopped at a red traffic light along Route 9 in Shimonoseki, local police said. A breath test found that he was under the influence of alcohol. The 41-year-old woman who was driving the car that was crashed by Yasuda's vehicle was not injured.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Nara cop posts investigative information on Mixi
The Yomiuri Shimbun
A Nara prefectural police officer posted information about police investigations, including an announcement of a forthcoming crackdown on a group of motorcycle gangs, on a message board of Internet social networking site Mixi, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
The officer, in his 20s, reportedly posted messages on the site, which has about 11 million registered members, during his working hours.
His superior officers verbally reprimanded him for his actions. Police sources quoted him as saying, "I was careless."
The officer began posting messages on the site from around August. He introduced himself in his profile section as a public servant working in the traffic division of a police station. He replaced some of the kanji identifying the police station where he is assigned with symbols, but it was still clear that he was a police officer working at a station in Nara Prefecture.
He reportedly also disclosed his gender, the area where he lives and his birth date.
According to sources, at 12:22 a.m. on Oct. 2 he posted a message saying, "A certain police station's special investigation task force finally obtained arrest warrants for a motorcycle gang group and will conduct a crackdown on them tomorrow, so I'm going to sleep soon because I have to go [to the police station] early tomorrow morning to provide backup."
In a message posted at 1:57 p.m. on Aug. 24, he wrote: "A rear-end accident occurred on National Highway Route 165!! The person in the car that was hit from behind was injured. The car that rear-ended the other one is reported to be on the run!! This is a hit-and-run...And there was a report that the suspect car was caught shortly after I left the police station in an unmarked patrol car. Damn, I missed out."
When the car's driver was arrested without a warrant, the officer wrote: "Now I'm at a district court seeking a warrant. It'll take some time to get it, so I'm waiting...Because of this, [I will lose] my consecutive days off...I'm crying."
All the messages he wrote described events that occurred, the sources said.
The policeman also referred in detail to accidents and described himself as "buried under a mountain of documents" in a post titled "On duty reports!?"
There were about 11.1 million registered Mixi members as of July 31. Only registered members can browse its message boards. Those who post messages can limit viewers of the messages to friends, friends and their friends or any Mixi member.
The officer's messages were accessible to all members, and the police received reports from some who read his messages, the sources said.
The officer was quoted by the police as saying, "I thought only my friends could read my posts."
(Nov. 9, 2007)
A Nara prefectural police officer posted information about police investigations, including an announcement of a forthcoming crackdown on a group of motorcycle gangs, on a message board of Internet social networking site Mixi, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
The officer, in his 20s, reportedly posted messages on the site, which has about 11 million registered members, during his working hours.
His superior officers verbally reprimanded him for his actions. Police sources quoted him as saying, "I was careless."
The officer began posting messages on the site from around August. He introduced himself in his profile section as a public servant working in the traffic division of a police station. He replaced some of the kanji identifying the police station where he is assigned with symbols, but it was still clear that he was a police officer working at a station in Nara Prefecture.
He reportedly also disclosed his gender, the area where he lives and his birth date.
According to sources, at 12:22 a.m. on Oct. 2 he posted a message saying, "A certain police station's special investigation task force finally obtained arrest warrants for a motorcycle gang group and will conduct a crackdown on them tomorrow, so I'm going to sleep soon because I have to go [to the police station] early tomorrow morning to provide backup."
In a message posted at 1:57 p.m. on Aug. 24, he wrote: "A rear-end accident occurred on National Highway Route 165!! The person in the car that was hit from behind was injured. The car that rear-ended the other one is reported to be on the run!! This is a hit-and-run...And there was a report that the suspect car was caught shortly after I left the police station in an unmarked patrol car. Damn, I missed out."
When the car's driver was arrested without a warrant, the officer wrote: "Now I'm at a district court seeking a warrant. It'll take some time to get it, so I'm waiting...Because of this, [I will lose] my consecutive days off...I'm crying."
All the messages he wrote described events that occurred, the sources said.
The policeman also referred in detail to accidents and described himself as "buried under a mountain of documents" in a post titled "On duty reports!?"
There were about 11.1 million registered Mixi members as of July 31. Only registered members can browse its message boards. Those who post messages can limit viewers of the messages to friends, friends and their friends or any Mixi member.
The officer's messages were accessible to all members, and the police received reports from some who read his messages, the sources said.
The officer was quoted by the police as saying, "I thought only my friends could read my posts."
(Nov. 9, 2007)
Thursday, November 8, 2007
High court acquits jobless man of shoving policeman
OSAKA -- A high court acquitted a man of injuring a policeman, overturning a lower court ruling that had given him a suspended prison term.
The Osaka High Court found a 47-year-old unemployed man from Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, not guilty of injuring an assistant inspector from Fushimi Police Station.
Earlier, the Kyoto District Court had convicted the man of interfering with a police officer in the execution of his duties and inflicting bodily injury, sentencing him to 10 months in prison, suspended for three years.
"It is incomprehensible that the witnesses who were at the scene did not see the policeman being attacked," said Presiding Judge Ichiro Nakasone at the Osaka High Court in handing down the ruling.
The judge also ruled that the man's statements during the police investigation were "unreliable."
The assistant police inspector questioned the man on a street in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, in September last year, and then asked him to come voluntarily to a police box nearby for questioning, according to the indictment.
The man had been indicted for shoving the chest of the policeman, making him fall to the ground twice and inflicting him with injuries that took one week to heal.
Mainichi
October 8, 2007
The Osaka High Court found a 47-year-old unemployed man from Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, not guilty of injuring an assistant inspector from Fushimi Police Station.
Earlier, the Kyoto District Court had convicted the man of interfering with a police officer in the execution of his duties and inflicting bodily injury, sentencing him to 10 months in prison, suspended for three years.
"It is incomprehensible that the witnesses who were at the scene did not see the policeman being attacked," said Presiding Judge Ichiro Nakasone at the Osaka High Court in handing down the ruling.
The judge also ruled that the man's statements during the police investigation were "unreliable."
The assistant police inspector questioned the man on a street in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, in September last year, and then asked him to come voluntarily to a police box nearby for questioning, according to the indictment.
The man had been indicted for shoving the chest of the policeman, making him fall to the ground twice and inflicting him with injuries that took one week to heal.
Mainichi
October 8, 2007
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Cop resigns after disposing [of] criminal complaints at home
SAITAMA -- A police officer has resigned after being reprimanded last month for disposing criminal complaints filed by more than 10 people at his home, the Mainichi Shimbun has learned.
The Mainichi Shimbun made the discovery after it gained access to relevant documents under the local government's information disclosure system.
The officer admitted to the allegations. "I kept the documents in my locker and forgot to submit them. When I was transferred, I took the documents home and disposed them," he was quoted as telling his bosses.
The 49-year-old officer with Saitama Prefectural Police accepted criminal complaints on more than 10 incidents such as theft and trespassing in 1994 and between 2003 and 2004 when he was working at police boxes, according to the force's inspection office.
Nevertheless, he failed to compile investigation reports and took home the complaints and disposed them.
Mainichi
November 7, 2007
The Mainichi Shimbun made the discovery after it gained access to relevant documents under the local government's information disclosure system.
The officer admitted to the allegations. "I kept the documents in my locker and forgot to submit them. When I was transferred, I took the documents home and disposed them," he was quoted as telling his bosses.
The 49-year-old officer with Saitama Prefectural Police accepted criminal complaints on more than 10 incidents such as theft and trespassing in 1994 and between 2003 and 2004 when he was working at police boxes, according to the force's inspection office.
Nevertheless, he failed to compile investigation reports and took home the complaints and disposed them.
Mainichi
November 7, 2007
Monday, November 5, 2007
Senior cop collared for shoplifting from drugstore after jumping out of window
HAMAMATSU, Shizuoka -- A senior policeman was arrested on Monday for shoplifting from a drugstore here after jumping out of a window in a failed getaway attempt, investigators said.
Hidenori Ishikawa, 32, a senior policeman at the Hamamatsu-higashi Police Station, was arrested on charges of theft. He has admitted to the allegations.
According to police, Ishikawa was caught stealing candy, towels and other goods worth a total of 2,800 yen from a drugstore in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, at around 4:20 p.m. on Sunday.
He was questioned in a staff room on the second floor of the store but didn't identify himself and instead gave police a false address. Later at around 5:00 p.m., Ishikawa jumped out of a window in the room onto the ground about 3.5 meters below in an attempt to flee but was caught by police officers after running about 200 meters away.
Ishikawa sustained light injuries that will take about two weeks to heal, according to police.
The disgraced police officer, who was off duty on Sunday, was quoted by police as saying, "I went into the store to buy drinks, but when I was walking around, I wanted to get more stuff. I fled because I was afraid they were going to identify me as a policeman."
Masatoshi Aoshima, head of the Hamamatsu-higashi Police Station, said, "It is an act unworthy of a policeman and it's highly regrettable. We'd like to deeply apologize to prefectural citizens."
October 5, 2007
Mainichi
Hidenori Ishikawa, 32, a senior policeman at the Hamamatsu-higashi Police Station, was arrested on charges of theft. He has admitted to the allegations.
According to police, Ishikawa was caught stealing candy, towels and other goods worth a total of 2,800 yen from a drugstore in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, at around 4:20 p.m. on Sunday.
He was questioned in a staff room on the second floor of the store but didn't identify himself and instead gave police a false address. Later at around 5:00 p.m., Ishikawa jumped out of a window in the room onto the ground about 3.5 meters below in an attempt to flee but was caught by police officers after running about 200 meters away.
Ishikawa sustained light injuries that will take about two weeks to heal, according to police.
The disgraced police officer, who was off duty on Sunday, was quoted by police as saying, "I went into the store to buy drinks, but when I was walking around, I wanted to get more stuff. I fled because I was afraid they were going to identify me as a policeman."
Masatoshi Aoshima, head of the Hamamatsu-higashi Police Station, said, "It is an act unworthy of a policeman and it's highly regrettable. We'd like to deeply apologize to prefectural citizens."
October 5, 2007
Mainichi
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