Opinion Good Cops and Bad Cops By SCOTT T. HARDS	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
良い警察官と悪い警察官 良い警察官と悪い警察官 ここ数ヵ月の相次ぐ不祥事のせいで、 世間では警察官に対する不信感が高まっている。 しかし、過剰報道などによって 国民の客観性もずいぶん失われているようだ。

Japan's police just cannot seem to do anything right these days. Over the past months, it's been day after day of apologies and endless numbers of pledges by government and police officials to "work to regain the public's trust." Just how bad is it really? Is the safety of Japan's citizens being overseen by a bunch of corrupt incompetents?

When I consider my own experiences with Japanese police, I get a different impression. When asking directions at a koban, I have universally been given friendly advice and a smile. I even got polite treatment from two officers patrolling the Tohoku expressway last year as they wrote me a ticket for speeding (whoops!).

And I love to watch those TV "reality" programs showing the police in action as they go about their jobs protecting innocent citizens. "Selfless dedication" is the phrase that comes to mind.

Many point out that the problems lie not with these rank and file officers, but with the so-called "career" officials. I've heard about high-ranking police officials who have never stood in a koban, or carried out an investigation, or made an arrest.

And certainly, if these tales are true, it is time to overhaul the police personnel system. Their leaders need to be more in touch with frontline police work if they hope to earn the respect of the "noncareer" officers. Fortunately, it appears that the government is already considering such measures.

What concerns me, however, is that this wave of media overkill about what are often minor problems is creating public distrust of the police that is not justified.

Take the example from Niigata. The top police official there was forced to resign when he made the very poor decision to continue drinking and playing mah-jongg despite news that a girl who had been missing for nine years had been located.

Although he quit, opinion polls showed sentiment that his punishment was too light. Many said he should have been fired and should have surrendered his retirement pay, over ¥30 million.

Wait a minute! That's an awfully steep fine for an ill-advised night of drinking -- a police rules violation, yes, but not a crime punishable in court. Where has objectivity gone?

Worse, seeking to exploit this wave of public dissatisfaction, Japan's opposition parties have submitted a bill to revoke the law passed last year that grants the police the ability to tap phone lines. "We just cannot trust them," says Yukio Hatoyama of the Democratic Party of Japan.

What nonsense. A few examples of internal rules violations and minor crimes are hardly cause to strip the police of a major weapon needed in the fight against crime. Using that same logic, you might as well tell the police to give up their guns, too!

Certainly Japan's police have some problems to work on. When you give a group of people special powers, there are always those who will abuse them. Just look at the police in other nations for evidence of that. But this is no time for the public to abandon their trust in what is mostly a hard-working force of people who contribute greatly to making this country one of the safest on the planet.

Shukan ST: April 21, 2000

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