A government-appointed, private-sector panel of advisers has now issued its much anticipated recommendations for changes in the nation's scandal-tainted police forces. The Council on the Reform of Police Systems delivered its proposals one month later than first promised, and the original draft developed by Mr. Seiichiro Ujiie, council chairman and the president of Nippon Television Network Corp., was adjusted to reflect the views of other panel members. Nevertheless, the final document retains specific, hard-hitting suggestions for a top-to-bottom housecleaning to restore public trust in the police.
Over the last few months, other proposals for improving police discipline and ethics have come from many quarters, but none has had much impact. There is reason to hope the council's recommendations will fare better. They were presented to Mr. Mamoru Nishida, chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, under whose authorization the panel was established and which is also the government body charged with supervising the National Police Agency. Mr. Nishida then immediately called on the public to monitor and support the reform efforts.
He may well have done this as a means of acknowledging continued malfeasance in the police ranks, sometimes allegedly with the encouragement of senior officers. It is the public, after all, that is demanding such reform. Reported incidents in the last several months alone range from coverups of illegal drug use and chronic traffic-speeding offenses by colleagues and superiors, from shoplifting to sexual molestation on crowded commuter trains, and from tampering with evidence in complaints filed by citizens to attempts at outright extortion. Despite repeated apologies and promises of improvement from regional police chiefs, no real change has been detected.