cuchulainn
April 4, 2003, 02:09 PM
from the Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20030404a6.htmFriday, April 4, 2003
Police more trigger-happy in 2002: NPA
Police officers brandished or fired their guns 54 times in 2002, well up from 26 the previous year and marking the highest number of such incidents in five years, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
Officers fired their guns in 30 cases, killing two people and injuring nine, and pointed their guns at suspects in the remaining 24 cases, according to an NPA report to the National Public Safety Commission.
The more than twofold increase in police use of firearms apparently reflects changes to the National Safety Commission guidelines. The guidelines took effect in December 2001 in response to a surge in the number of officers killed in the line of duty.
The old regulation said police could use firearms "as a last resort," but the revised version provides more specific guidance, dividing the use of firearms into three categories illustrated by some 80 specific examples.
The categories are pointing guns at suspects, firing warning shots and shooting at suspects.
Critics said the old regulation was too abstract to follow, causing many officers to hesitate over using firearms even in self-defense.
The NPA said the surge in firearm use in 2002 can be seen most clearly in cases involving the pointing of guns at suspects and firing warning shots.
In 2001, guns were pointed at suspects on 15 occasions, five fewer than last year.
The number of warning shots in 2002 rose to 20, up from 12 a year earlier.
One suspect was killed and another was wounded in separate cases in which police fired warning shots that actually hit the suspects, it said.
Police fired directly at suspects on 10 occasions in 2002 -- double that of the previous year -- killing one person and wounding eight, it said.
The NPA said 45 cases involving use of police firearms led to the arrest of suspects.
The leading cause behind the use of police firearms was interference of police duty at 28 cases.
This was followed by theft in 17 cases, destruction of property in 12, drug offenses in 11, violation of gun laws in 10, assault in eight, driving without a license in eight, robbery in seven and murder in five.
Police were confronted by suspects with firearms in only three of the 54 incidents, the NPA said.
Guns were drawn or used in 32 cases to deal with suspects behind the wheel of an automobile, 11 cases involving suspects armed with knives, and on four occasions when officers were confronted by suspects wielding bars or other blunt instruments.
The two fatal shootings occurred in April, the NPA said.
In one of these incidents, a man was killed when an officer in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, fired warning shots at a vehicle trying to flee police.
The other incident occurred when an officer in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, gunned down a man who tried to steal a police car.
(C) The Japan Times: April 4, 2003
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20030404a6.htmFriday, April 4, 2003
Police more trigger-happy in 2002: NPA
Police officers brandished or fired their guns 54 times in 2002, well up from 26 the previous year and marking the highest number of such incidents in five years, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
Officers fired their guns in 30 cases, killing two people and injuring nine, and pointed their guns at suspects in the remaining 24 cases, according to an NPA report to the National Public Safety Commission.
The more than twofold increase in police use of firearms apparently reflects changes to the National Safety Commission guidelines. The guidelines took effect in December 2001 in response to a surge in the number of officers killed in the line of duty.
The old regulation said police could use firearms "as a last resort," but the revised version provides more specific guidance, dividing the use of firearms into three categories illustrated by some 80 specific examples.
The categories are pointing guns at suspects, firing warning shots and shooting at suspects.
Critics said the old regulation was too abstract to follow, causing many officers to hesitate over using firearms even in self-defense.
The NPA said the surge in firearm use in 2002 can be seen most clearly in cases involving the pointing of guns at suspects and firing warning shots.
In 2001, guns were pointed at suspects on 15 occasions, five fewer than last year.
The number of warning shots in 2002 rose to 20, up from 12 a year earlier.
One suspect was killed and another was wounded in separate cases in which police fired warning shots that actually hit the suspects, it said.
Police fired directly at suspects on 10 occasions in 2002 -- double that of the previous year -- killing one person and wounding eight, it said.
The NPA said 45 cases involving use of police firearms led to the arrest of suspects.
The leading cause behind the use of police firearms was interference of police duty at 28 cases.
This was followed by theft in 17 cases, destruction of property in 12, drug offenses in 11, violation of gun laws in 10, assault in eight, driving without a license in eight, robbery in seven and murder in five.
Police were confronted by suspects with firearms in only three of the 54 incidents, the NPA said.
Guns were drawn or used in 32 cases to deal with suspects behind the wheel of an automobile, 11 cases involving suspects armed with knives, and on four occasions when officers were confronted by suspects wielding bars or other blunt instruments.
The two fatal shootings occurred in April, the NPA said.
In one of these incidents, a man was killed when an officer in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, fired warning shots at a vehicle trying to flee police.
The other incident occurred when an officer in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, gunned down a man who tried to steal a police car.
(C) The Japan Times: April 4, 2003