OSAKA (TR) – First, the good news. The number of officers with the Osaka Prefectural Police reprimanded over improper deeds in 2017 was significantly less than the year before.
However, members of the class of 2017 managed to get themselves into all kinds of trouble — from dodging train fares to the theft of adult video (AV) publications — in protecting the nation’s third-biggest city, it was learned last month, reports Nikkan Sports (Jan. 25).
In line with a prefectural ordinance on information disclosure, a document revealed that 19 officers and staff members were either dismissed of received pay cuts over transgressions last year. The figure for 2016 was 31.
In one case, a head patrol officer in an investigation division, 30, dodged train fares by riding the special express between JR Osaka and Shin-Sanda stations without paying on 20 occasions in 2017 and the year before. When approached by a conductor, he would flash his badge and say, “This is official business.”
The officer claimed that he liked to take a seat when returning home from drinking in offering an apology. He was docked 10 percent of his salary over a three-month period as punishment.
AV theft
In another instance, a staff member at a video store witnessed a former sergeant (53) at the Naniwa Police Station shoplifting AV DVDs last October. During questioning, he told officers that he committed the same crime on 100 occasions beginning the previous January. A search of his residence by police resulted in the discovery of about 700 discs.
Police sent the former sergeant to prosecutors on suspicion of theft, and he eventually reached an out-of-court settlement with the store. After the indictment was suspended, he voluntarily retired upon being handed a pay cut as punishment.
And finally, there was the assistant inspector who took the meaning of the phrase “in the line of duty” to heart: While engaging in sex with his mistress, he used a set of police-issued handcuffs.