TOKYO —

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Tuesday ordered a review of whether police precautions had been adequate in connection with a fatal stabbing spree in Ibaraki Prefecture on Sunday attributed to a man who had been wanted for a murder several days earlier.

On Tuesday, the Ibaraki police sent Masahiro Kanagawa, 24, to public prosecutors on a charge of fatally stabbing Yoshikazu Miura, 72, on Wednesday at the victim’s home in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Prefecture.

On Sunday, Kanagawa, who had been on a wanted list over the murder of Miura, allegedly stabbed eight people in and around a train station in Tsuchiura, leaving one person dead.

After the stabbings, Kanagawa turned himself in at a police station. He was arrested Sunday over Miura’s murder.

Ibaraki police have been under fire for allowing Kanagawa to allegedly conduct the stabbing spree at the station where eight police officers were on duty.

A total of 170 police officers were on alert Sunday, including the eight at the station, following a call to police by Kanagawa on Saturday in which he suggested that he might commit a crime.

Meanwhile, National Public Safety Commission Chairman Shinya Izumi told a press conference, ‘‘We must review the process of investigation and consider measures to see if there were any insufficient points.’’

‘‘We should take as a grave matter the fact that (a wanted suspect) injured such a large number of people,’’ said Izumi, a member of Fukuda’s cabinet and the minister to whom Fukuda gave the order for a review.

The National Public Safety Commission Chairman is charged with supervising the police.

© 2008 Kyodo News. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.

5 Comments

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  Tatanka at 05:05 PM JST - 25th March

  "After the stabbings, Kanagawa turned himself in at a police station."

  Actually, he went to the Police Box and it was unattended. He then made a to call the police to come and arrest him.

  You can see how Japanese police shy away from danger. It was said on the news last evening that the police at the train station stopped to help victims instead of chasing down the suspect. Any bystander could administer simple first aid. The police in this situation are incompetent and at worst, bordering on cowardly dereliction of their duties. In my 23 years in Japan, this was the first time to see people on the news being interviewed who openly criticized the police in the way they handle this incident.

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  kalsang at 06:48 PM JST - 25th March

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  Zorro at 07:29 PM JST - 25th March

  "Actually, he went to the Police Box and it was unattended."

  And if each police box would have been manned, you would blame the lack of police on the beat as the reason the guy could escape.

  "It was said on the news last evening that the police at the train station stopped to help victims instead of chasing down the suspect."

  But could they see the supect at that point? Did they ALL stop, or did some chase the suspect? Had they ALL run right by the victims, they would be criticized for that, you know.

  "Any bystander could administer simple first aid. "

  I think you know nothing of the typical bystander, especially the typical J-one. Nobody is going to get an ambulance somewhere faster than a cop. And doing that may have saved lives. The typical Japanese DOES NOT respond well or effectively to emergencies. Few enough people in my country do either, but man do the Japanese have a knack for it. If I were stabbed on the pavement, I would be very thankful for a cop's assistance over some oyaji texting his wife about the incident. Heck, my own GF would freak, and she is a nurse! Gimme the cop I say.

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  cleo at 07:55 PM JST - 25th March

  They mentioned on the telly this morning that for a provincial police force like Ibaraki to have "a total of 170 police officers on alert" they would have to drag out virtually everyone including the tea boy and the accounting clerk. Not all 170 would be combat-trained coppers. It's easy to complain, not so easy to agree to more taxes being spent on bringing the police force up the strength, especially in the cash-strapped provinces. I hope the review brings it home to Fukuda that you don't get a crack police force on a shoestring budget.

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  ca1ic0cat at 05:32 AM JST - 26th March

  yeah, I'll agree that this guy could have slipped past the cops and started stabbing people. I don't know how big Ibaraki station is, but 8 cops isn't a screen large enough to check everybody coming through.

  At the same time I do wonder where he holed up from Tuesday to Sunday.

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