Spurred by a spate of vicious crimes and a sharp rise in crimes by foreigners, the number of criminal offenses in Japan last year reached a record postwar high of 2,735,612 cases. The arrest rate, which is a barometer of public safety, fell to 19.8 percent, the first time since 1945 that it had dropped below 20 percent. The 2002 police white paper, issued by the National Police Agency last Friday, describes the grim reality of a vicious circle in which the nation's police officers struggle to keep up with the rising number of crimes, and new crimes occur before investigations into ongoing cases can be completed. Public order must not be allowed to deteriorate any further. In halting the slide, the capability of the police alone is limited. Each and every one of us must ask ourselves what we can do to reverse this trend. It is time for some serious thinking.
The number of recognized criminal cases is being driven up by a rise in street crime, such as theft and bag-snatching, but crime by foreigners, which is part and parcel of internationalization, is also a problem. Last year there were 27,763 cases involving 14,660 foreigners. Both of these figures are on an upward trend. In particular, the number of arrested persons has increased about 75-fold over the last two decades. Among the offenses committed by foreigners, special mention should be made of a spate of burglaries involving lock-picking. Such offenses began to appear in the Tokyo metropolitan region about five years ago. The police suspect most of these burglaries are the work of Chinese gangs.
It is said that many of these foreigners settle in Japan, become organized and move on from petty crimes to the more vicious kind. Police detention facilities in Tokyo are already full of foreigners, and a shortage of interpreters for investigations is becoming a constant problem. It is essential to cooperate with police authorities in other countries and strengthen efforts to prevent illegal immigration at points of entry.