The police departments in over 30 of Japan's 47 prefectures missed their hiring targets from fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2023, sources said.
Many prefectural police departments make far more job offers than their planned hires but around 30% of the applicants given informal offers end up turning them down.
"If the number of applicants decreases, police activities to ensure public security will be affected," a prefectural police official said, expressing a sense of crisis.
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