A string of blunders allowed a suspect to escape from custody. The Osaka prefectural police should seriously reflect on this incident.
On the evening of Aug. 12, Junya Hida, who had been arrested on suspicion of committing crimes including sexual assault and robbery causing bodily injury, bolted from Tondabayashi Police Station, where he was being detained. Since Hida escaped, the prefectural police have received more than 2,000 complaints about the incident.
After inspecting the station, Koichi Hirota, head of the prefectural police, was quite right to apologize by saying, "We have caused residents tremendous anxiety and concern."
Before Hida escaped, he had met with his lawyer in a visitation room divided by acrylic partitions.
The station had a system in which a door buzzer would ring when a lawyer left the visitation room to notify police officers the meeting had finished. However, the station removed the batteries from the buzzer at least a year ago.
Police officers are not usually stationed in a room adjacent to the visitation room on weekends and weekday evenings. The police asked lawyers to tell them when meetings were over, but there is no obligation to do so.
By the time a police officer who thought it strange that Hida's meeting with his lawyer had gone on for so long noticed Hida had escaped, at least 1-1/2 hours had passed. This complacent approach is flabbergasting.
Hida apparently kicked open an acrylic partition fixed with adhesive to a metal frame and then fled from an unlocked door on the lawyer's side of the room.
Stamp out complacency
The prefectural police's internal rules stipulate these facilities must be inspected at least once a month. Checking the strength of the acrylic partitions also was one of these rules, but the station had only conducted a visual check. Furthermore, the partitions were installed about 30 years ago but reportedly had never been replaced.
Hida said to his lawyer, "I'll tell an officer myself that our meeting is over." He apparently aimed to be left alone in the visitation room. This suggests Hida had planned his escape in advance. Perhaps he had spotted an opening in the station's slack management system.
Detained suspects and defendants can meet a lawyer without a police officer or other officials in attendance under the Criminal Procedure Code. It can be said Hida exploited this right of access to lawyers.
The long delay in informing residents about Hida's breakout also cannot be brushed aside. The station sent an email notifying residents of the incident about nine hours after it had discovered Hida had escaped. About 16 hours passed before the station asked the Tondabayashi city government to alert residents over the disaster administration radio communication system.
A station official explained, "We prioritized our investigation and did what we were supposed to do," but surely it was important to urge residents to be vigilant. The station has no defense against criticism that it treated residents' safety lightly.
The National Policy Agency has instructed all prefectural police headquarters to inspect their detention facilities. It will be essential to not only check the actual facilities but also stamp out complacency among police officers.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug. 23, 2018)
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