Representatives of the three ruling parties on Thursday requested that Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki begin efforts in the Cabinet to reform the nation's police system.

The policy affairs chiefs of the three-way coalition handed Aoki a package of police reform items that they agreed on earlier in the day.

The reform plans, which were mapped out after reviewing the recent police scandal in Niigata Prefecture, suggest that elite police bureaucrats work at local police stations with rank-and-file officers for about five years.

The plans also suggest that each prefectural police department be ordered to open a Web site so public grievances against the police can be accepted online.

The establishment of a separate secretariat was also suggested in order to ensure the roles of the National Public Safety Commission are clearly defined.

The ruling bloc's plans, however, fail to include a demand by the opposition for the creation of a new supervisory body outside of the force to investigate police misdemeanors. Instead, the ruling parties proposed enhancing supervisory functions at the level of the regional police bureau.

A plan initially submitted by the Liberal Democratic Party to make the post of chairman of the National Public Safety Commission a full-time ministerial position was dropped from the three parties' agreement due to opposition from the LDP's coalition partners -- the Liberal Party and New Komeito.

In accordance with the reform plans, the three ruling parties will submit to the Diet relevant bills to revise the Police Law during the current Diet session.

Meeting of experts

The National Public Safety Commission said Thursday that the panel of private-sector experts it set up to review the police system following a series of high-profile scandals will hold its inaugural meeting on March 23.

Nippon Television Network Corp. President Seiichiro Ujiie will serve as chairman of the five-member panel, tentatively called the Council on the Reform of Police Systems.

The other members are Kohei Nakabo, a longtime lawyer and Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's special adviser on monetary and environmental issues; Masasuke Omori, former director general of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau; journalist Eiko Oya; and Hirotaro Higuchi, honorary chairman of Asahi Breweries Ltd.

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Masaharu Gotoda, who was initially also named to the panel, will serve only as an adviser at his own request, due to his background as a former police officer and director general of the National Police Agency.

Kosuke Hori, chairman of the commission and minister of home affairs, NPA Director General Setsuo Tanaka and NPA Deputy Director General Hidehiko Sato are scheduled to attend the meeting in Tokyo.

A detailed agenda of their discussions will be left up to panel members, but the commission and NPA officials indicated they are hoping it will come up with a proposal by around the summer.

Obuchi said last week that he wants the third-party panel to consider a variety of issues, including the present promotion system for "career" police officials and a shakeup of the National Public Safety Commission.

Career police officials, or those who pass the Category I exam to become elite bureaucrats, occupy most of the posts of chief in Japan's 47 prefectural police headquarters because they are on a much faster promotion track than their "non-career" colleagues who were hired by local police.

Of the 220,000 police officers nationwide, only 520 are career officials.