Japan police admit to underestimating stalking threats in murder near Tokyo
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Local officers who responded underestimated the danger and urgency of the case, failing to recognise it as a stalking case.
PHOTO: AFP
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Police admitted on Sept 4 that they underestimated the urgency of stalking incidents that preceded the murder of a 20-year-old woman near Tokyo and failed to take sufficient measures to protect her.
The findings by the Kanagawa prefectural police were released following an internal probe into its responses to stalking and other incidents reported to them by Ms Asahi Okazaki in the months leading up to her death. Her former boyfriend has been indicted for murder.
“We deeply apologise for our inappropriate handling of consultations from the woman and her family,” Mr Kaoru Wada, chief of the prefectural police, told a press conference. He said he has also apologised directly to the victim’s family.
The prefectural police and the National Police Agency said they have punished 43 officials, including Mr Wada and the head of a local police station in Kawasaki, who were involved in the handling of the case.
The body of Ms Okazaki was found in April at the home of Hideyuki Shirai, 28, in Kawasaki, after she went missing in December 2024. Shirai has been arrested and indicted on suspicion of murder and violating the anti-stalking law.
According to the internal probe, Ms Okazaki reported to a local police station in Kawasaki in June 2024 that she had a fight with Shirai, with whom she was then in a relationship. Officers classified it as a domestic violence case but dropped the matter after learning the relationship had ended.
In December 2024, Ms Okazaki went missing after reporting to the local police nine times that she was frightened by Shirai hanging around her house.
Local officers who responded underestimated the danger and urgency of the case, failing to recognise it as a stalking case and share the information with the prefectural police headquarters, the report said.
The local police could have warned Shirai based on the anti-stalking law and taken measures to protect Ms Okazaki if they coordinated with the headquarters at an early stage, the report said.
After Ms Okazaki went missing, her family reported the possibility of her having been murdered and sought an urgent investigation, but the local police failed to respond appropriately, even as Shirai admitted having loitered around her house and her smartphone remained switched off. KYODO NEWS
