Police at first turned away surrendering Aum fugitive

Japanese bureaucracy once again standing in the way of progress?

Really do have to try to get arrested, again and again good for him not giving up on giving up!

is he really a police officer or was hired on part-time base for year-end/new year time only?

Hes a good person for deciding to take responsibility for his actions

"turned away surrendering Aum fugitive" why would you?! lol wow wanna wack them on the head. you shouldn't hesitate. off with their heads!

in case you wondered what police work was all about,

In the end he was arrested. The Japanese police got their man.

It was like he was crying and begging for him to be arrested. But the police officer denied his plea and send his or pushed him away from the police station boundry. What a police...

It would be nice to hear the comments from the natives about this police matter. Those expensive glossy Wanted posters in Police boxes, train stations etc are not effective at all right? If a police officer, who is supposed to vigilant behaves this way, then what behavior is expected from the general public?

Redux of the beginning of the Aum case, when victims' families begged the police to investigate their suspected deaths, and the police refused to budge.

A stupid cop. It's good Hirata didn't change his mind while walking towards Marunouchi police station.

Useless Lazy cop who can't take his job seriously and do it properly. He should be planting Daikon instead.

it must be true you can't make this up !!!!! I bet all his colleagues will make fun of him for the rest of his life.

Police officer A: Hey hey that's the police officer that turned a domestic terrorist away.

Police Offier B: What a butthead, hey let's throw some 2 week old natto in his locker yeahhhh. Let's put some rotten sushi in his hat. hahahahaha !!!!

Hirata said he first went to a police station in Osaki but found no one on duty

So first time no one there, second time turned away, third time finally arrested! Yes, Japan is relying on the integrity of 17 year criminal veterans to uphold the justice system.

it is to laugh

This useless parasite living off of our taxes should be fired!! Stupid idiot has a terrorist right in front of him and??

Criminal: Excuse me, I'm on the wanted list.

Police A: Get outta here, ya bum!

Visiting Foreigner: Excuse me, where's the train station?

Police A: Is that a pocket knife!?.......

Police B: Good Catch!

Police A: Thanks. Nothing gets past me.

I thought that police had to take all comments such as these as serious. I mean, you can't go into an airport and joke about having a bomb or going to blow up an airplane without some security screener hauling you out of line, and detaining you. I guess it is because you could screw up some companies profit margin by delaying flights so those comments are taken serious, but a public sector bureaucract, just move along and go to someone else's station so I can do my job without any extra effort.

I guess he's been berated by his peers and superiors now that the news hit the public. The funny thing is, he didn't even consult his fellow policemen who could have made a better judgement.

I bet he was in the holiday (good or bad) mood, and he was thinking "mendoukusai na".

another tip of the iceberg....

In the end he was arrested. The Japanese police got their man.

LOL. He alluded capture for 17 years and had to try three different places to turn himself in. Yup, crack police work by any definition.

JCops so dumb.

Next I expect a rush of confessions to that 300-million yen robbery of Toshiba back in 1968 --- police never caught him either, and I figure he's spent all his money by now.

Wow! no one on duty in the Osaki police station!? Probably out giving bicycle tickets..

Total and absolute incompetence. How can you not look over your shoulder and look at the poster (which has been up for 17 years!) to see the if there's any resemblance or not? Many of the crimes that get "solved" here are perpetrators turning themselves in. The police can't even seem to get this part of "crime fighting" right. Lame.

**** Wow is that easy to get away..wish I lived there....just walk on and turn yourself...and no one believes you and send you on your way..

What must the few thousand family members and friends of the victims of these terrorists be feeling about this utter disgrace? I'm sure there are a few things they'd like to say to the buffoon J-cops. They were likely thinking about where their next donuts were coming from...

WIth such "vigilance" in the police's part, is it any wonder he evaded them for 17 years?

Another example of your typical Japanese policeman. Apart from the select NPA graduate entrants, the majority of policemen are lowly educated, following a family tradition and pretty useless for anything else - which is saying something in Japan!

The quality of the Japanese police officer has to be improved. They have to be paid more and be more selective in the recruiting stages. They also have to get rid of that middle management strata, often aged and gotten to where they are by virtue of time served rather than talent.

The koban culture of tea and biscuits, with a quick ride around the locality, then back to the koban for banter with the rest of the uniformed lads, has to be replaced with more proactive policing. I kid you not, the other week, the local plod had the cheek to place a speed trap right in front of their koban. It was the first one I had seen in my area in 16 years.

The Japanese police, apart from being the legal instrument of the state, are often the the most common interface that the public have with the state. Until that interface is seen as acting competent and fair, all else (a fairer balanced system of criminal investigation and laws protecting the human rights of all legal inhabitants of Japan) will be a side show and unenforcable.

Maybe an employment system followed by many military institutions, where future employment is based on reaching a certain promotional grade by a set time, rather than a job for life, might be a good way of going.

J-cops; their hearts just aren't in it, are they...

The picture JT is using is rather unfair, unless the policeman in the picture is the one that turned Hirata away. Unlikely, I think.

@ Dog: good post!

The yakuza must be laughing their a$$es off big time this Oshogatsu, OMG!

The police must be kicking themselves...can you imagine if he got away again...and because the police turned him away??

Hes a good person for deciding to take responsibility for his actions

Jared Norman - after 17 years on the run and making sure the statute of limitations has run out. Yeah, a really great guy.

Is it true Police officers refers to themselves in the third person? If so, that has got to sting - "We want you to go somewhere else..."

When it comes to this simple procedure of taking the guy in (AT LEAST) to double check if he is telling the truth, they couldnt even do that. It's not like they were busy or anything like that...except maybe watching the NHK song contest. These guys are really worthless.

By the way, if I remember corretly, aren't there cash rewards for people on the notoriously wanted list?

In the case of this guy, who has been in the list for many years, will he be given some leniency for turning himself in instead of having the governemt pay the reward?

New Years, I would of thought the guy was drunk or something. Not everyday a fugitive who's been on the run suddenly turns himself him, especially on New Years eve.

@The Munya Times" "Yes of course, police with high moral. I personally experienced their competency. Let me give you a sample, if it is proper for printing out on this board." me too...a friend of mine house was damaged while away in another country..when he got back..he notified the j-copz, and they fingerprinted him saying they needed to exclude his fingerprints from crime scene...

No Tokyo constabulary story surprises me any more.

Don't blame the cop! It was Hirata's duty to show some I.D. a recent wanted poster and an Aum member to vouch for his identity.

@kapuna I do hope ur being sarcastic. Lol!

I agree, don't blame the cop (100%). They should have a law here where "jokes" or idiotic emergency calls and police reports are a crime. Back home if someone calls 911 to report a Burger King forgot their catchup at the drive-in (this really happened) they get arrested for wasting official time. The Jcops should be able to say "are you really that Aum dude?" "Do you understand making a false report can result in arrest?". This is the western standard and if they had it here this story wouldn't have happened.

New Years, I would of thought the guy was drunk or something. Not everyday a fugitive who's been on the run suddenly turns himself him, especially on New Years eve.

Your right cops shudnt be drunk on the job, but I guess it shud be ok for Oshogatsu haha

absolutely no respect for criminals !!

All those policemen should lose their jobs for being such lazy good for nothings

More on this here, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/04/aum-tokyo-makoto-hirata-sarin

Including the precious line "How Hirata managed to evade detection for so long remains a mystery."

It's no mystery if you've lived in Japan a while and seen J-cops (not) in action.

They should release the name of the officer.

The police here in TOKYO should really, really reflect on this stupid incident, and NEVER ever let this kind of criminal be turned away, what if the guy just happened to be carrying some extra SARIN?? Imagine this guy going there say into Shinjuku?? Roppongi? New Years eve, everybody drunk and SARIN?? These Aum cult members are very, very intelligent, unfortunately they are using their brains for EVIL!! and the J cops?? trying to use what little they do have of their pea brains to?? collect a nice pay check and try not to get hurt and or killed to collect a nice retirement benefit??

Tamesu-sana and @The Munya Times"....I got one for you? I live next door to Osaki police station and entered last year, with my company lawyer who had 3 letters of extortion. My Japanese company lawyer did all the talking and presented the documents. The police decided to take no action as the person attempting the company extortion was located in Gunma, and suggested we go speak to the Gunma police instead. No phone calls were made, nor any notable effort to assist future. The good news is that the world is now laughing at the Japanese police force incompetence. Ha,Ha?

Dear Moderator, last week you told us not to be unfair and accuse the Japanese police at being incompetent for not being able to solve an 11 year old, 4 family member murder, yet they had finger prints, suspects DNA and and 178,000 cops working on the case. Sorry for disagreeing with you ol' chap?

They should release the name of the officer.

At the very least, the officer should turn himself in.

Or perhaps he already has.

Moderator thanks for nothing for removing my post, regarding highlighting the incompetencies of the J police again, and disagreeing with your post last week. It was polite and non-abusive and didn't offend any other readers. Surely free speech if relevant and still legal, is appropriate?

Moderator: The investigation into the Setagaya murders has absolutely nothing to do with the Hirata case.

Great comments, well done mods for letting a little jocularity in. I have to laugh at the idea of all the cops being too busy watching Kohaku! And I have to agree with the serious comments; this has gone global, very embarrassing. Alphaape, you remind me of a friend who was found to have a Swiss Army Knife in his carry-on bag at a J-airport- they looked at it and said something along the lines of "Well keep it in your bag while you're on the plane" (hikouki no naka ni, dasanai yo ni, I believe were the polite words, more or less). Sigh...

How hard is it to look over your shoulder at a wanted poster before you decide to dismiss someone? I guess they were too busy preparing for all drunks at the New Years festivities.

wtfftw - Har!

a friend of mine house was damaged while away in another country..when he got back..he notified the j-copz, and they fingerprinted him saying they needed to exclude his fingerprints from crime scene...

Actually, that's a valid procedure (assuming they then dust the house for "foreign" prints). Incompetence would have been to arrest him because they found his fingerprints all over the house.

@LuckyLangers...thanks for the info...we need more info like that! MANY THANKS

This is why I can't take JPs seriously.

The world is laughing not at the Japanese people, but the incompetent police here...shame on you?

http://www.france24.com/en/20120103-japan-police-turned-away-surrendering-aum-fugitive

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/01/japanese-fugitive-turned-away-by-police/

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/japan-police-turned-away-surrendering-aum-fugitive-062743934.html

@LuckyLangers @Tamesu San

I think the world's laughing at the J police is the smaller problem, the bigger is they don't mind it at all and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Turning away a surrendering fugitive is the most grotesque and bizarre peaking of police incompetence and if it can happen it tells a lot about them beyond a single case.

Also, as you wrote it is not a single case as they seem to turn away too many people, thus losing the cooperation of the people and losing face and respect. Beyond the cases you mentioned and I mentioned when they turned me away reporting a serious assault attempt that I managed to escape unhurt, it is known that they not only turning away helping the witnesses or the victims but as you Tamesu San mentioned they often submit them to fingerprinting, DNA sampling, and a full blown procedure that ends by police recording their personal full profile and inputting it in their computer database in connection with a crime and only good knows the consequences of you are being in that database and how it will be used in the future.

I myself consider the situation quite worrisome seeing how the police loses people's help, cooperation and respect for law enforcement.

amendment . correctly: not only turning away the helping witnesses

As a foreigner, I am having a bad image in my head when I first read this article, that a famously notorious wanted criminal has been mingling with us for the past 17 years, and a cop turn him away when he voluntarily surrenders.

I hope there would be a follow-up story on the cop, and his side of the story.

What some of you don't want to admit is that this is another victory for the statute of limitations. He never would have turned himself in without it.

And this case is another reason why it was a good thing: otherwise the suspect would just never be caught and the case unresolved forever due to police incompetence as highlighted by this case. But this way, at the very least, we get a full confession that closes the case or may lead to other arrests. Plus, you never know, the criminal might not get the benefit of the statute due to a technicality, or, the investigation may reveal other crimes.

And from now on, the police will be able to keep tabs on him and his neighbors will know who he is.

How long before Hirata walks?

Is j- police are train to be police officer?

Imagine the scene, New Year's Eve, a few minutes before midnight:

"You can't come in here sunshine, this is the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Headquarters".

"I know. I want to give myself up."

"Sorry, it's New Year's Eve. We're closed".

"I want to give myself up. I am Hirata Makoto, the fugitive kidnapper, murderer and poisoner whose photo is shown in the wanted poster on the wall behind you. I have come to give myself up after 17 years on the run".

"Ha ha ha, that's a good one! Been drinking a bit of sake at the New Year's Eve party have we?"

"No, really, I'm a mass murderer and I want to turn myself in ....."

"Well listen sunny boy, it's more than my job's worth to let you in here. Tell you what, if you're really a fugitive kidnapper, murderer and poisoner, why don't you go down to your nearest Koban and give yourself up there."

"Oh, alright then ....."

Typical Japanese police: no one on duty, not willing to do their jobs, not observant, not solving any crimes