A government panel on police reforms recommended Thursday that police make greater efforts on information disclosure and require officers to issue written responses to complaints as measures to regain the public's trust in the nation's scandal-tainted force.

The Council on the Reform of Police Systems submitted its recommendation report to Mamoru Nishida, chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, based on the concept that police should make themselves more "visible to the citizens."

The council, chaired by Nippon Television Network Corp. President Seiichiro Ujiie, met 11 times between March 23 and Thursday and held two regional public hearings on police reform in light of the recent police scandals.

The nation's police have come under fire for the scandals, including the involvement of top Kanagawa police officials in the coverup of an officer's drug use as well as improper Niigata police handling of a kidnapping case in which a woman was rescued after more than nine years in captivity.

The National Public Safety Commission and the National Police Agency are expected to formulate a proposal to revise the police law in line with the recommendations.

In the report, the council described police as having a "closed" nature shielded from criticism by outside parties, and lack the ability to deal with changing times.

To secure transparency in police organization, the panel is calling for "aggressive disclosure of information" and obliging officers to provide written responses to complaints brought by citizens.

Over the past year, examples of police inaction toward suspected stalking or kidnapping cases came to light, in which relatives of crime victims said their kin may could been saved had police reacted promptly to their complaints.

The panel also proposed in the report the reinforcement of inspections of activities by regional police as well as the National Public Safety Commission.

As ways to make police activities correspond with the times, the panel urged personnel and training reforms, such as doubling the time it takes for "career-track" officers to gain promotion, and increasing regional police staff.

So-called career police officials, or those who pass the Category I exam to become elite bureaucrats, occupy the position of chief at most prefectural police headquarters, because they are on a much faster promotion track than their "noncareer" colleagues who were hired locally.

In conclusion, the report says, "We demand that the authorities take our recommendations to heart, come up with a new reform plan that meets the needs of the current times and strive to regain public trust in the police."

The council comprised five members -- Ujiie; Hirotaro Higuchi, honorary chairman of Asahi Breweries Ltd.; Masasuke Omori, former chief of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau; journalist Eiko Oya; and lawyer Kohei Nakabo. Masaharu Gotoda, a former NPA official, served as adviser to the panel.

Confidence in Japan's police organization, which used to maintain a fairly high level of public trust, plunged sharply after the seemingly endless string of scandals that began last year.

It started last September, when mass abuses of new recruits by Atsugi police officers on the Kanagawa force came to light. In the subsequent revelation of the drug coverup, former Kanagawa Police Chief Motoo Watanabe was given a suspended 18-month prison term in May.

In the Niigata kidnapping case, it was revealed that when Koji Kobayashi, the chief of the prefectural force at the time, heard the abducted girl had been rescued, he continued playing mah-jongg at a hot spring hotel with a senior NPA official from the Kanto regional bureau who was visiting Niigata for an inspection tour.

The National Public Safety Commission, which oversees the police organization, also came under fire when it handed down what was widely perceived as too lenient a punishment on these officials.

Critics who have watched the police scandals say the panel's report was disappointing in that it failed to call for reform of the NPSC.

Journalist Akihiro Otani said he would give "close to a zero" mark on the report, pointing out that it fails to cut into the core problem that lies in the structure of police organization.

Critic Moeko Tawara said, "Current members of (national or prefectural) Public Safety Commissions are appointed by (central or prefectural government) heads, and they do not have any responsibility to the people.

"There appears to have been no discussion as to what kind of people are selected for the commissions or why," Tawara said.

Otani also said the NPSC would change drastically if its current five members were expanded to, for