The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said a young officer resigned Monday after being suspended and referred to prosecutors for allegedly leaking investigative information to a yakuza she was dating.
The 23-year-old officer, who oversaw detainees at Shinjuku Police Station, quit effective on Monday after being charged with breach of confidentiality, a violation of the local public service law.
She was suspected of telling the underworld member in his 30s about the charges against him in connection with an incident between yakuza members, after he asked her in December whether he was being investigated, authorities said.
The officer said she gave him the information in hopes of buying his silence about their relationship. She thought she would lose her job if their ties were revealed, police said.
The officer was working for a department dealing with organized crime when she contacted him in October from an official mobile phone. She began dating the man from late November, after he repeatedly asked her out, authorities said.
The officer left the man after he started asking her for money in January, they added.
Authorities also admonished four other officers over the case for failing to supervise her.