Far East Cynic

One Team…..

Even the Yakuza is doing their fair share:

Organized crime. Police aren’t the only ones on patrol since the earthquake hit. Members of the Yakuza, Japan’s organized crime syndicate, have also been enforcing order. All three major crime groups?the Yamaguchi-gumi, the Sumiyoshi-kai, and the Inagawa-kai?have “compiled squads to patrol the streets of their turf and keep an eye out to make sure looting and robbery doesn’t occur,” writes Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan, in an e-mail message. “The Sumiyoshi-kai claims to have shipped over 40 tons of [humanitarian aid] supplies nationwide and I believe that’s a conservative estimate.”

There is also a lesson here for certain govenors in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin to name a few:

Japan has an active and visible police force of nearly 300,000 officers across the country. Cops walk their beats and chat up local residents and shopkeepers. Police are posted at ubiquitous kobans, police boxes manned by one or two officers, and in cities there’s almost always a koban within walking distance of another koban. A survey in 1992 found that 95 percent of residents knew where the nearest koban was, and 14 percent knew the name of an officer who worked there. Cops are paid well—the force attracts many college graduates—and can live in cheap government housing. (Emphasis mine-SS) They also care a lot about public relations: The Tokyo Metropolitan Police even has a mascot, Pipo-kun, whose name means “people + police.” They’re good at their jobs, too: The clearance rate for murder in 2010 was an unbelievable 98.2 percent, according to West—so unbelievable that some attribute it to underreporting.

  1. I see what’s left. It is very sad. I would not stoop to pick it up. I have a soft spot for 7 year old kids. In a year I will have a soft spot for 8 year old kids. Texas is way mostly safe. I live on a mesa.

  2. is it even possible to have such a high clearance rate on homicide…even for Japan,,,sound more like the Soviet Union or North Korea….
    Is there a lesson for the black female mayor of Camden too????

  3. Skippy,
    The part about the J-Cops is a bit misleading. If you are on the Japan Today, you will see the posts that basically call the J-cops nothing but a bunch of “Keystone Cops.” They are mired in bureaucratic inefficiency, and don’t take the initiative on things. A past few cases on murders of foreign women by Japanese men and the long time it took to solve them, especially the case where they had the suspect and let him go just show that in some areas they are missing the ball somewhat.

    They do have a tendency to be a bit heavy handed when dealing with foreigners, and I have seen cases where a JN contractor was caught in a sobriety check-point at the gate, and the J-cops declined jurisdiction, but let it be the other way around, you will see the base CO going to the police station offering gomen nasi money.

    But one thing to keep in mind, if you have a koban in your area, which can be a good thing, but they are located in walking distance of another, isn’t that a waste of resources? What is the upkeep on buildings, and I guess the big question is, if Japan is so safe, why all the police boxes?

  4. I once saw out on the “Honch” a group of about 10 J-Cops trying to subdue a drunk Japanese man. This guy was rude and abusive to the police, and didn’t heed any warning that they gave him and pretty much told them to F*** off, pretty much an episode of drunk and disorderly you would see on Cops.

    Now take that same situation on Cops, and you will see just one or two US cops (county sheriff, etc) cops take down the same type of suspect in a matter of minutes, and wouldn’t put up with that type of attitude.

    But I will give Japan credit for at least having a national police force, so that they can at least have some control as to cutting costs, unlike America, where in most cases, you have state police, county sheriff, and local police, all being paid for by each individual state.

  5. Maurice,

    Go back and look closer and get your S.O. to read the Japanese titles. There are several police forces in any given area-especially the cities. The police are not a national police force (although such a thing exists). There are many types of keisatsu.

    My point was not so much about that they are perfect-but that they are worth paying well. You get what you pay for.

  6. A starting Oakland police office, a rookie, is paid $102,000 a year….(yeah, thats sustainable.)…and by your logic Oakland should be the safest city in America…(hint: IT AIN’T)
    and NY? $26,000…
    CITIES pay their local police NOT the state government,,,,
    But you know that,,,…your hatred for the Republicans has driven you to the edge of darkness…an uber liberal(don’t have an umlaut key)..next thing we will see an hammer and sickle flag on your lawn..sigh….
    are you really the spawn of Dennis Kucinich? (though I agree with him about Libya….

  8. Skippy,
    I understand the distinction between the differnt J-cops. One told me that a motorcylce cop in the light blue uniform can’t stop you on a surface street for speeding, hence you never see any except on the highways. The National police agency (with the black and white cars) are just that, but they do have the local branches. It is more career enhancing to work in the Tokyo Metro station vice being in Saitama.

    But overall, they don’t have the same level of differnt bosses that we do in the states. This is not always a problem especially in areas of the US that have low populations, and small town cops rely on the state police and county sheriff to support. But in larger cities like Chicago where CPD can get into turf wars with the Cook County sherff.

    One thing to remember, J-cops clear a lot of cases because they don’t in some cases really investigate. What may be a suicide, could in some cases be a murder which has been the case. And the way they categorize road related deaths can sometimes lead to statistics that make it look like they are doing more than they are. Also, there have been a few cases where suspects have escaped from Kobans because the cop on duty was sleeping, or a funny one where a cop had his handcuffs taken by a teenager at a train station. That was pretty embarrasing for them.

  9. Richard,

    Starting salary in Oakland is 65000. Please don’t use a total compensation model-that’s like telling me I make a lot more money because I have company provided health insurance. Doesn’t put any more money in my checking account-and the health insurance is an obligation they owe me for helping them make a 24 billion dollar profit last year.

    You get to the second part of the equation. People of Oakland vs People of Tokyo. I think its clear which one is defective and which one is not. Japan might be defective too if it had a population that was a lot less homogenous .

  10. here you are to bitch about money being stuffed in your pocket. We walked around the block a number of times and every time you felt entitled to steal the money out of my pocket. I really didn’t like it.

  11. Curtis-that makes absolutely no sense. The money is not being stuffed in my pocket, its being earned the same way you earn yours-and those rookie cops in Oakland probably earn theirs too. I’m not stealing anything from you and neither is government. To say so is the height of selfishness.

    The issue is not about racing to the bottom to see who can make the least-its about finding a way to help all people advance, not just a favored few.

  12. Yeah Skippy but who made that your job? I don’t think you have a right to collect. If you’re going to steal, please bare your hand, show a gun or knife and let me shoot you. That’s all I ask. Charity starts with giving not with stealing.

  13. http://www.opdjobs.com/salaries-and-benefits.asp
    This is from the OALAND police web site..
    $$$$$71,000-95.000 starting which does not include various differentials when working different shifts etc… which can bring your ROOKIE salary to over 100,000 wo benefits included.
    There is an article today in the NYT about GE…the system is rigged against the little guy and dems and republicans do their best to keep screwing us…
    and not in a good way either!!!!

  14. I don’t begrudge police officers good salaries. Lets look at the odds of an Oakland cop getting shot in the line of duty shall we? Probably higher than my chances of having a mishap in an aircraft. The Navy saw fit to augment my pay by 11,000 a year because of that.

    The goal should be to get more people paid well-not grouse about ways to f*ck people over. How much taxes did GE pay this year and how many jobs did they outsource again?