Opinion

Why Cops Lie

By SCOTT T. HARDS

A Japanese airliner suffers a mechanical failure caused by the manufacturer and plunges into a mountain, killing hundreds. Although he has no direct responsibility for the crash, the airline company's president resigns.

A rocket motor fails to operate properly, and a test of Japan's most modern launch vehicle ends with the vehicle being blown up. The Science Agency's No. 2 man resigns, even though he had nothing to do with building the faulty engine.

These are just two of the hundreds of examples one can find throughout Japan of "inseki jinin," or resigning to take responsibility for something. A bank president stepping down to take responsibility for massive losses is quite understandable. But what is it about Japanese culture that often requires the heads of those who had no direct control or responsibility over events to roll?

If you look at situations like the ones above, you should have no trouble understanding why high-ranking police officials in Kanagawa Prefecture have a penchant for trying to cover up the misdeeds of the police offi cers they command.

Ultimately, many Kanagawa officers resigned because it became clear they were trying to hide something. However, even if they had been open about the drug use of a police officer four years ago, or some of the other problems that occurred in the agency, Japanese practice would have certainly forced the top officials of the Kanagawa police agency to resign anyway.

This is just basic human psychology at work. These men simply wanted to protect themselves, and the system as it exists now forced them to lie to do so.

Frankly, I feel rather sorry for many of the police officials now being indicted. They spent years building up their careers in the agency. Why should they have to throw it all away because some young fool cop in their agency used drugs? There are bad apples in every basket, after all.

What Japan needs to do is take a long, hard look at the way it often forces talented people out of office simply because of some perceived social need to create a scapegoat for something that has gone wrong. More often than not, this does nothing to solve the problem, or prevent a recurrence. What's more, these people are often fired just at the time that their organization is in need of strong leadership more than ever before.

Here's what should happen: If a police officer is found to have committed a crime or any other act not appropriate to someone sworn to upholding the law, he or she should be dismissed from the force immediately .

Of course, depending on the act, criminal proceedings may be necessary. But the person's boss should not resign, or be forced to. Instead, this is where the boss should exert strong leadership and pledge to take the opportunity to weed out corruption from the agency.

Of course, if the same agency is plagued by continuing problems over a period of time, then it is time to start talking about replacing the people in charge.

Until this "sudden death" system of taking responsibility is rethought, it will only encourage individuals in leadership positions to hide the truth in order to save their own skins. And in the end, that benefits nobody.

Shukan ST: Dec. 10, 1999

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