15-year-old boy held for stealing handcuffs from Fukuoka policeman

Saturday 08th November, 07:19 AM JST

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Alphaape at 11:07 AM JST - 8th November

Jcops should do a few field trips to America and watch the cops in cities like LA, NY, Chicago and hell even the highway patrol. Then they will get an understanding on how things are supposed to work.

No wonder the yakuza can operate at will here. Yes there is a mob in America, but they have enough sense to lay low and not to be as obvious, since they know the police will find out. But here, I guess if you have no fear of the police, you can do what you want.
seesaw at 11:51 AM JST - 8th November

what does he want to do with the hand-cuffs?
ilcub76 at 12:38 PM JST - 8th November

Has anyone realized that most of the dumb cop stories originate in Fukuoka? How (not) safe I feel.
BBLeo at 02:50 PM JST - 8th November

Good boy just proved to the world how cops are cautious about their equipments. How about to train him as a cop when grow up. He could be one of the best; this is an embarrassment to police force. Hope that they will learn a lesson. Cop without cuffs is like to be without pants.
anshin at 03:07 PM JST - 8th November

Smoking in the parking lot requires a police inquiry? Why?
BlackFlag at 03:09 PM JST - 8th November

it might have been the waccy baccy, Japan is overrun with it!
elbudamexicano at 05:06 PM JST - 8th November

Sounds like a typical old J fart cop who maybe has had 1 too many donuts, or in the J police (too much ramen, yakiniku, sake etc..) and should not be allowed to go out on patrols. He should stay in the police station warming a chair with his big butt and handle emergency calls or something of the like.
helloklitty at 05:09 PM JST - 8th November

Smoking in the parking lot requires a police inquiry? Why?

Because you have to be 20 to smoke, right? Also, I believe Fukuoka has passed a ban on public smoking (may be just the Tenjin area).

Well, the cop was 59. What's he doing still working in the field? I think the retirement age is 55 in the U.S. Who in their right mind would fire or even reprimand someone for such a minor screwup, especially when he must be close to retirement age?

Teenage kids are pretty bold with cops as they know basically nothing will happen to them. The person who needs disciplinary action is the $hitbag brat. Put him in a home for two months.
badge123 at 05:49 PM JST - 8th November

I lost my wallet once and didn't notice for over half a day. Handcuffs are stored in a case, if someone pickpockets it out of the case, the officer probably didn't know until the end of his shift (7/8 hours later) that it was missing.

Guns are heavier, and are attached via a lanyard. This is an idea I like, Cops in America and other countries get their guns stolen too, and used back on the officer. No one is perfect.
European1 at 12:41 AM JST - 9th November

Smoking in the parking lot requires a police inquiry? Why?

Well...this is what they are capable to do, except showing us directions. By the way, 3 of them went to that place. Well, good 2 other were with the one who lost his stuff, otherwise who knows, kids would take everything from him and he would notice at 7:30p.m. he has only Police uniform on him without attachments.
bushlover at 12:11 AM JST - 10th November

Inept cop. Insolent boy. Reprimand the cop with a pay cut for losing kit and jail the boy for a week to teach him the gravity of theft.
soldave at 09:18 AM JST - 10th November

It took him 5 and a half hours to notice his cuffs had been stolen. Way to go J-cop.
ca1ic0cat at 09:46 PM JST - 10th November

Yeah, I like the idea of three cops to admonish kids about smoking. Maybe each was running low on their own supply and wanted to confiscate a few more?

The only way this would have been funnier is if the kid handcuffed the ankles of two of the cops together. Insolent? Yah! But funny as blazes.
bushlover at 05:51 AM JST - 11th November

Agreed. Funny. But pathetic also to think that is the state of law enforcers here.
goodDonkey at 07:35 AM JST - 11th November

I think it was funny. I think the kid should be made scared because of his actions. I do not think he needs five days in jail. I really think it is ironic for Americans to try to school the Japanese on crime deterrent. Maybe J-cops are not as efficient as U.S. cops because they spend much less time fighting crime.

For some dumb reason I got the idea that objective of the legal system was to reduce crime. I wonder if all of those here saying the J-cops should go to America to learn a thing or two would also agree that America needs to learn a lot from the Japanese on how to keep crime ridiculously low in caparison to America. If the choice is between bungling cops who get their handcuffs stolen by a teenager but have one of the lowest crime rates in the world or extremely efficient cops where the crime rate is on the high end in the world - well I will take the bungling cops and a safer environment any day. Afterall we are not talking about N. Korea that tames its populace with a dictatorship and fascist like law enforcement we are talking about a truly peaceful nation.

I would also enjoy seeing a video of the act. It was the middle of the day so there should have been plenty of light. I can just see the 15 year old culprit tip toeing around behind the back of the cop. I wonder if the other boys saw it taking place or whether they were also distracted. The cop should be reprimanded in my opinion but not have his pay reduced. Am I wrong? Doesn't it make sense that extremely low crime would lead to less efficient cops in a true democracy? Maybe those who are never "soft on crime!" can tell us the benefits of beating the hell out of people to get results. Maybe we need a "Teenage Smokers" swat team to take down the little imps.