U.S. military to ask Japanese police to arrest deserters

Friday 11th April, 03:26 PM JST

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GrouchyGaijin at 09:01 PM JST - 11th April

After Japan, they might not see the sunny side of Chateau al Sadr as an inviting beach destination. To the local keisatsu, "Take me! Take me!" might be a way of surviving!
johnalex40 at 09:09 PM JST - 11th April

Are they still talking about the money?? How about his grieving family? The Taxi driver was just making a living, for God's sake.

Any USA military disserts and commits a crime inside another country, then they must seriously pay for their actions. American or not!
VoXman at 09:54 PM JST - 11th April

Considering that there has been 15 plus deserters on the loose for at least a year, it's ridiculous that it took a crime like this to get the US Mil to begin reporting their missing people to the Police. Pride kept them from honoring the inegrity of this nation's immigration laws. Because if those kids aren't on base doing their job as the mil brought them under SOFA over here to do then they are illegals. Letting them roam around without a way to make a living just encourages illegal activity on their part. And it flawnt the very laws and the relationship that the big brass is always harping on the common service memeber to uphold.
japanyesterday at 10:08 PM JST - 11th April

good idea because deserters are a threat to the japanese. i wonder how many deserters have blended into japanese society peacefully. now the military will make it seem like the other 99.9999% of deserters are dangerous. i wonder if they know that most deserters leave because they're unable to cope with the day to day stress of the military.
sailwind at 10:22 PM JST - 11th April

>

wonder how many deserters have blended into japanese society peacefully. now the military will make it seem like the other 99.9999% of deserters are dangerous.

Seem's like ole Jenkins did pretty good for himself.
jambon at 10:55 PM JST - 11th April

Considering that there has been 15 plus deserters on the loose for at least a year

Anecdotal, at best.
jambon at 11:04 PM JST - 11th April

NHK: *Koumura urges US to provide info on deserters * Japan's Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura says bilateral negotiations are under way to ensure that the US military provides detailed information on deserters to the Japanese side.

The move came after a US sailor allegedly murdered a taxi driver in Japan about 10 days after he went missing. The US side did not ask Japan to investigate even though the sailor was officially deemed a deserter.

Mr Koumura said on Friday that not all cases of US military deserters were reported to the Japanese police.

He said that Japan wants to establish a system to ensure that all cases are reported to the Japanese side.

Mr Koumura expressed hope that appropriate measures will be quickly put in place. 2008/04/04 12:14

I'd wager that the Japanese police do not want the additional case load.
Alphaape at 11:09 PM JST - 11th April

All this talk of desertion, Japan press must also realize the Jenkins was a deserter, who married a Japanese woman and is now a celebrity. Yes, his was different circumstances, but bottom line, he was a deserter, and the Japanese gov't went so far as to ask the US gov't to go easy on him.

I wonder now if the US military will report anyone who goes missing for a day, or will they send their information if the guy is 4 hours late. Desertion is declared only after 30 days or unless the service member makes a statement that he is leaving and never coming back.

I seem to recall a case a few months ago when another sailor from the Kitty Hawk was missing. His parents flew over to Japan and they felt that they were getting the stone wall treatment from the Navy. They went so far as to put up posters on base and addressed the local church services on base. Big story in the Stars and Stripes. Well, a little NCIS investigation revealed that he was up in Tokyo with his girlfriend. Another one of those cases where I guess he just got caught up in the hype of Japan.
Alphaape at 11:26 AM JST - 12th April

For those who want to see this scumbag Ugbogu in action, take a look at his MySpace page. It is under the name of LAZZZZZYYYY!!!

If the J-police/NCIA were to ever really make serious on their plan to arrest deserters, they should begin by looking at their internet trail, and probably will have a good chance to figure out who these clowns hang out with by just looking at their profile.

Sad to say, just by looking at this clown's profile, you could probably tell where he would be hanging out if they really wanted to catch him. Same clubs in Yokosuka that all guys go to.
Loki520 at 12:15 PM JST - 12th April

Alphaape,

The fact is that until a deserter, or even a U/A, does something more serious than "be absent" there is not going to be an active search for him. NONE AT ALL. They may put out a BOLO, put up some posters, etc.., but Military Police, NCIS, OSI, etc., have bigger fish to fry than manpower spent on an active search for one of the thousands of deserters worldwide (by the way there are only 5 USN deserters, from ALL of Japan, currently). In the overall scheme of things, desertion is a HUGE crime. But in reality, with other things going on at all times, it falls to the bottom of a law enforcement food chain.

What this policy does is gives the Jcops the same authority cops in the states have. IF a guy does something against JAPANESE law (i.e., speeding...) and gets pulled over, his REAL name will pop up in any database searches, and THAT will result in his arrest. Currently the SOFA does not give Jcops authority to arrest/detain US citizens for things that are not against the law in Japan, but are in the US. For example, desertion is a violation of US law, but NOT Japanese law. This will give them to act as our proxy in detaining these members until they can be retrieved by military authorities.

And it will be put in play as of the day of DESERTION. Which is either the 30th day of absenteeism, or earlier if declared so by the authorities which usually requires some sort of "intent" or "display" of an intent to not return.

The problem can be fixed easily. Once someone is declared a deserter, inform the Jcops. And immediately REVOKE their right to be in Japan under SOFA status. That makes them illegally in this country. That surely puts them on the radar with the Japanese authorities. Once/if they get caught, the Japanese can punish them for illegally being in Japan, and/or/then turn them over to military authorities who can then pop them for desertion. YEA. 2 separate punishments for one act of stupidity!!
Alphaape at 02:22 PM JST - 12th April

Loki, I understand how the notification of being UA works, I have had a to deal with a few cases over the past 20 years. The problem I have with it in this case is that I thought that under the SOFA, if the Japanese arrested someone for a crime in Japan, then they would notify the base anyway if only for the fact that the nearest base can send out a police liasion that can act as an interpreter. When I first came here, that is what I was told to do no matter where I was in Japan (Kanto area) if I got into an auto accident. Just to sit tight along with the J-police until a military police represntative for any of the bases showed up to assist.

I guess if the person who decides to go UA can speak Japanese, then they may be able to get away with not needing the assistance of a translator, but once the Japanese police begin to ask how he got in the country, and most of the time the people that come over here in the military enter the country on their Military ID and no pass port or if they do have the passport it will have a SOFA stamp, so wouldn't the Japanese police then call for assistance from the nearest US military facility.

Don't get me wrong, I think that it is a good step in regards to finally having something in writing that says there will be coordination between both entities, but I think that this is just a window dressing measure to soothe the nerves of people who don't fully understand the way things work like you and I on this issue.
Loki520 at 06:52 PM JST - 12th April

Alpha, I know you know... But I've taken to explaining that in almost every post because it seems others don't know, and have continued to ignore it any one of the 1000 times that you, I, Taka, or anyone else explains it.

It should be simple. Your busted out in town, the Jcops OWN you until you can show how you entered the country. If your here on SOFA, the next requirement would be to call the military for notification. And then the fun can begin.

20 Years? I'm really kind of wondering where you work. We've probably walked by each other a million times. And we both seem to be involved, in one way or another, in the military law enforcement arena...
VoXman at 11:32 AM JST - 17th April

Seem's like ole Jenkins did pretty good for himself.

Sorry to be the one to say this, but Charles Jenkins betrayed his country over and over while in NK. I know we let him lose for the sake of the Japanese gov. But it was a bad precedent.
VoXman at 11:33 AM JST - 17th April

For those who want to see this scumbag Ugbogu in action, take a look at his MySpace page. It is under the name of LAZZZZZYYYY!!!

You would have thought that NCIS would have thought of that. But I guess you can't lead a horse to water then make him drink.
rjd_jr at 01:13 PM JST - 17th April

Sheesh, what's the big deal, these are mostly "only" Navy deserters. No offense to the 'regular' Navy guys past and present, but it's not like the ones stationed in Japan are gonna be patrolling some Middle Eastern hot zone with IED's going off around them. If they desert, yea that sucks but they're not hanging their buddies out to dry on a combat zone.