Possible Whistleblowing by Local Policeman

A former police officer, who had been indicted with charge of leaking private information to a journalist, testified in his trial on June 6th that the top officer of his organization concealed a internal scandal made by some police officers. The top officer denied that argument without presenting any evidence. The National Police Agency (NPA) required thorough investigation on the issue. 

A retired policeman Takashi Honda, former Director of Community Safety Department of Kagoshima Prefectural Police Office, was arrested on May 31st with suspect of violating National Public Service Act with leaking private information of policemen to the third party. It was reported that Honda had sent the document to a journalist in Sapporo, Hokkaido, with a hope of publishing the hidden secrets in March.

 

In his court hearing on June 6th, Honda admitted that he had sent document about the scandals inside Kagoshima police office to a journalist. “I could not tolerate that the Chief of Kagoshima Prefectural Police Office tried to conceal the crime made by the police officers,” said Honda in the hearing.

 

He revealed that the chief was not active in investigating a case in which a sergeant with Kagoshima police office tried to take sneak photo of a woman in a public toilet. According to the reports, it was the case in Makurazaki city, Kagoshima, in December 2023. Honda also argued that the chief had been so negative in taking on other scandals that he was disappointed to that attitude for concealing inconvenient truths.

 

The Chief of Kagoshima Prefectural Police Office, Akiteru Nogawa, told the reporters that the police would make necessary investigation on the argument of Honda, but did not explain about whether he had been trying to conceal the scandals. The day after his comment was reported as not denying the possibility of concealing scandals, Nogawa denied his intention to conceal the scandal. “I ordered nothing with my intention of concealing,” said Nogawa.

 

The main point of this issue is whether the fact that Honda sent a document to a journalist was leaking private information or whistleblowing about hidden scandals. Whistleblower Protection Act determines that the appointer needs to prevent dismissal or any other disadvantageous treatment of any national public employees on the basis of the whistleblowing.

 

Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission and one of the ministers of Kishida Cabinet, Yoshifumi Matsumura, required further investigation on the issue. “Including the argument of the defendant, it is important that the case will be thoroughly investigated,” said Matsumura, indicating a possibility of inspection by NPA.

 

Nogawa was appointed as the chief in Kagoshima prefectural police office in October 2022. He is one of the elite officers who worked for NPA. Honda is a policeman who worked for Kagoshima prefectural police office since 1987 and retired this March. It is indicated that the case is based on a fundamental disagreement between elite bureaucrats and local officers.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amendment of Local Autonomy Law

The House of Representatives started discussion on revision of the Local Autonomy Law, which would vest the national government a power to instruct local government in an emergency. It may change the relationship between the national and local government, which has been recognized as equal. The opposition parties oppose the amendment, arguing that it would give the national government an excessive power.   With the Meiji Restoration, the national government abolished the feudal system, introducing modern governance. However, its autonomy was not sufficient. The governor of each prefecture was appointed by the national government. The local governments subordinated to the national government. It was as late as 2000 when  the Comprehensive Decentralization Law  was enacted and the relationship between the national and local government was defined as equal.   The national government found inconvenience in the relationship between the national and local government, when COVID-19 was preval
Read more

Request for Final Nuclear Disposal Site

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry requested Genkai Town, Saga, to accept “literature survey” for building a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste. Genkai is going to answer within this month. If it accepts, it will be the third place to accept that survey, following two places in Hokkaido. Main reason to accept the survey is supposed to be subsidy from the national government.   Japan has no final disposal site. Among all 54 reactors in 17 nuclear power generation plant, 12 reactors of 6 plants are operating. The rest of them are not in operation, some of which are determined to be decommissioned. Used nuclear fuels are stocked in each plant, 　 or have sent to a reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori. There are two plans to stock nuclear wastes in the intermediate facility for disposal, one is already built and another is still in negotiation.   Nuclear Fuel Final Disposal Act in 2000 determines to bury nuclear waste in the underground. Literature survey, which is
Read more

Death Penalty Demanded on Criminal of Arson

On the historically brutal case of arson, the public prosecutors demanded an ultimate penalty to the offender. In the trial on the arson and murder in Kyoto Animation in 2019, the prosecutors requested death penalty on the defendant, Shinji Aoba. The lawyers of Aoba argued that the court should avoid sentencing death penalty. The judgement will be passed next January. Aoba was indicted as putting fire after pouring gasoline in the building of Kyoto Animation (Kyoani), a studio producing animation works, and killed 36 staffs and injured 32 on July 18 th , 2019. In the trial, Aoba argued that he could not tolerate Kyoani, because it had stolen his novel story in its works. Aoba later apologized to the victim’s families that he had done too much and regretted it.   In the closing argument in Kyoto Regional Court, the prosecutors demanded death penalty for Aoba, because the number of victims were extremely high in the history of criminal trials in Japan. “It is hard to describe about how t
Read more