Those words of advice are intended for every member of the nation's police forces. The case of the three Saitama prefectural police officers just dismissed and expected to be indicted for falsifying documents is only the latest in a series of incidents suggesting that many police have forgotten, or never learned, that listening to people in order to protect them is one of their primary responsibilities.
A 21-year-old woman tried to file a criminal libel complaint against a stalker who allegedly later murdered her before committing suicide. The dismissed officers did everything they could to discourage her from doing so despite the fact that her alleged stalker had printed, widely distributed and publicly posted defamatory flyers about her. The police tried to make it seem her complaint had never been received, and even took no steps to retain physical evidence in the form of the insulting handbills. In a public statement her family will never forget, their supervisor said, "The murder might have been prevented if the police had listened to the victim's complaints."
Following hard on the heels of the inaction and inefficiency of the Niigata prefectural police in the nine-year confinement of an abducted girl in a house only a few meters away from a police box, the Saitama incident fuels the growing public demand for a top-to-bottom housecleaning of the nation's police forces. Although it was largely greeted by media silence, the news conference held last week by the chairman of a government advisory panel on police reform could represent a needed push for meaningful change.