警視庁けいしちょう公安こうあん部ぶ 捜査そうさ員いんを他たセクションに派遣はけんへ 捜査そうさ力りょく向上こうじょうねらう

The Metropolitan Police Department will begin a new initiative from this month to have investigators from the Public Security Division engage in work in other sections such as the Criminal Division, to gain investigative experience, according to interviews with senior investigators.

The aim is to improve investigative capabilities amid questions about how public security police gather information and evidence, such as in the case of false accusations where charges against the president of a Yokohama company were dropped.

Public Security Police is a division of the police organization that monitors the activities of terrorist organizations, extremists, and foreign spies, and takes measures and conducts investigations to prevent incidents before they occur.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Departments Public Security Bureau arrested three individuals, including the president of Yokohama-based chemical machinery manufacturer Okawara Kakoki, in 2020 for illegally exporting precision equipment that could be diverted for military use. However, a reinvestigation by prosecutors after the indictment revealed that the equipment might not fall under the regulations, leading to the indictment being withdrawn just before the first trial.

In this false accusation case, the methods of information and evidence collection by public security police, as well as their decision-making process towards indictment, have come into question.

Amidst this, it has been learned through interviews with investigation executives and others that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department will start a new initiative this month to have young investigators from the Public Security Bureau engage in work in other sections such as the Criminal Investigation Department to gain investigative experience.

In the Public Security Department, there are limited numbers of cases that lead to arrests or prosecutions, making it difficult to gain investigative experience. Therefore, there is an aim to improve investigative skills by having personnel gain experience in other sections, such as homicide or economic cases.

This fiscal year, we plan to dispatch several young officers, including assistant inspectors, to other sections in the form of dual assignments.

In addition, it is reported that efforts are being made to develop personnel by involving the police stations public security department, which traditionally focused on information gathering, in practical investigations of headquarters cases, such as suspect interrogations and analysis of security cameras.

Expert: The attitude of sharing experiences across the Public Security Bureau is essential. Masahiro Tamura, a visiting professor at Kyoto Sangyo University and a former career official of the National Police Agency who also has experience directing investigations at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Departments Public Security Bureau, commented on the incident where the indictment of the president of Okawara Kakoki was withdrawn, stating, If the facts inferred from the evidence differ from the initial plan, it should be followed, and ignoring it would mean the fundamentals of the investigation are wrong.

On top of that, it is important to gain experience to understand the severity of investigations and to learn firsthand how to make judgments in fluid situations.

He said, It is not enough to just tell people engaged in other sections to go and learn, but there must be an attitude of sharing that experience as an organization throughout the entire Public Security Department.

The history and organization of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau: The only independent department established within the prefectural police headquarters nationwide, it is the largest public security police organization in Japan, known as the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau.

In 1957, the predecessor Security Division 2 was renamed to Public Security Division.

In the Showa era, there were incidents such as the Shibuya Riot Incident in 1971, where thousands of radical students rioted and a 21-year-old police officer was killed, and the Asama-Sanso Incident in 1972, where armed radicals took hostages in a mountain lodge in Nagano Prefecture, leading to a 10-day gun battle with police that resulted in many casualties. In the Heisei era, investigations included the Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack by Aum Shinrikyo and the Director-General Sniping Incident in 1995, where the then-police chief Takaji Kunimatsu was shot and seriously injured.

The Public Security Bureau of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has two main pillars: Domestic Public Security, which is responsible for collecting information and investigating radical groups such as the Chukaku-ha and Kakumaru-ha, right-wing groups, and so-called lone offenders who radicalize without belonging to a specific organization; and Foreign Affairs, which deals with investigations into international terrorist organizations, espionage activities by other countries targeting confidential information and advanced technology, and abductions by North Korea.

It has not been publicly announced, but the number of investigators, including personnel dealing with cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure, is said to exceed 1,000.

Unique investigative methods The organizational wall with the Criminal Division While investigations by the Criminal Division and others aim to apprehend criminals and expose organizations, it is said that the investigations by the Public Security Division focus on preventing incidents and terrorism by understanding organizational trends and securing national interests.

Most activities are conducted undercover, and public security investigators are required to have the expertise of information gathering, such as acquiring collaborators known as S within the target organizations or related entities to grasp their movements. However, compared to departments like the criminal division, there are fewer opportunities to gain experience through case investigations, and it is said that it takes time to cultivate them.

There was little personnel interaction with other sections, and in the past, walls and conflicts with the Criminal Division, which was investigating the same case, were also pointed out.