J-cops under fire again, reach new heights/depths
OK - let me just set the scene here and find out your response to the situation. You are a police officer and arrive at a Nagoya house to arrest a man on suspicion of assaulting a female housemate/partner. As you arrive at the house, you see the man walking out of the house carrying an 18-litre can of kerosene. He walks down the road and douses himself in the liquid on 3 separate occasions, using around 5 litres. You make no attempt to stop him doing this as you are a reasonably inept officer to start with. You do take action when the man gets out a lighter and threatens to kill himself. You wrestle the lighter off the man, he is arrested and refuses to change clothes before being taken into full custody. So off to the police station he goes and into the interrogation room. Again, the man refused to change his clothes at the police station and says he just wants to go on. Now, as questioning is about to start in the small interrogation room, the suspect asks if he can smoke. So, here is the dilemma. Do you:
a) Point out the clearly marked no smoking signs all around the police station, and tell him that it is just not possible.
b) Take into account the man is covered with a highly flammable liquid, and was suicidal before his arrest, meaning any naked flames could turn him into a human fireball.
c) Accept his request and hand the man a lighter and pack of cigarettes, regardless of signs and safety. You then choose to leave the room, leaving the man alone with the cigarettes and lighter for 15 minutes.
Now, if you chose option 3 then please take yourself outside and give yourself a sever beating. To be honest, with that kind of mentality you deserved it. Of course, option “b” would be the obvious answer with answer “a” as a side-point. So now that we’ve deduced what you should do, let me ask you what you think the Japanese police did…
Yup, you guessed it - they gave him a full pack of cigarettes and a lighter. 15 minutes later some more officers entered the interrogation room and found him cross-legged on the floor. As they entered a fire started on his knee and quickly engulfed him, the burns killing him. In terms of stupidity on the part of the officers, this is really off the scale. Forget suspects escaping past 9 police officers while running away without any shoes on, this is the new benchmark for all Japanese police to aspire to!
Almost as amazing is the Atsuta Police Station Deputy Chief Michiharu Kondo’s comments and criticism of his officers. He said to a press conference, “It was wrong not to get him to change his clothes and to have given him permission to have a cigarette in the smoke-free police station”. The fact that the man was covered in kerosene and was suicidal wasn’t a factor in whether you should give this man a lighter either? It is clear to see exactly what will happen. There will be a press conference in a day or two. Present at the conference will be the Nagoya head of police and a few other people high up in that area’s law enforcement hierarchy. Very little will be said and the men will sit with their heads bowed deeply. NHK News will show video of silence at the press conference, disrupted only by the clicking of cameras as the press get their fill. Once that is done, the wa (karma) will be restored and everyone can forget about the incident and carry on as normal. Maybe another no smoking sign will be put up in the police station too. The story will be dropped by the media and the public will soon become distracted by yet another gas-caused suicide.
If there is anything more reported on this story, I’ll be sure to let you know.
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Hi Dave,
That’s inept to say the least.
Do they all have butter on their heads?
Dave,
I’m sure Sherriff John Burnell would have something to say on this one!
Bim x
Bim - He’d have said something like:
“And now to Nagoya Japan. This fiery maniac thought it was OK to hit his wife. But the police came and turned up the heat, leaving this guy to cool off… IN THE COUNTY JAIL!!!”
Can hear him saying just that!
Bim x