A woman in her 20s who was groped on the street ran 40 meters and arrived at a “koban” police box seeking protection from her attacker.

But her nightmare escalated there.

The police substation in Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward was empty, and the creep who was on a bicycle followed her inside to continue his assault.

Spurred by that and other incidents, police around the nation are taking measures, including installing emergency phones, to help those in need when koban are empty.

All officers at the Katsushika Ward koban had been sent to another substation at the time of the incident in the early morning in September.

The man continued to grope the woman after she made an emergency 110 call with her cellphone and was explaining her situation to the operator.
She managed to fight him off and he fled.

Two weeks later, Tokyo police, using security camera footage and other data, arrested a college student on suspicion of attempted forced sexual intercourse and other allegations.

OFTEN EMPTY

Koban are open to anyone who needs help, but police officers often must leave the buildings for patrols and to respond to incidents and accidents. They also check on neighboring households to prepare for fires and natural disasters.

Although retired police officers acting as assistants help koban staff deal with people who have lost their way or personal belongings during the day, most koban, except for larger substations in downtown areas and elsewhere, have hours with no personnel.

Fewer officers are on duty at night, when help from assistants is unavailable.

The deployment of the limited number of officers takes into account the specific circumstances of each area.

For example, equal numbers of officers are deployed for both daytime and nighttime shifts at koban in the busiest downtown areas of the capital.

For safer, short-handed zones, personnel gather at a surrounding koban to provide security for the entire area together. Having many officers at the same place can also prevent assaults on police, such as the cases reported in Toyama and Osaka prefectures.

AUTOMATIC CONNECTION TO POLICE

For citizens in trouble who find no officers at a koban, the Metropolitan Police Department said the “most effective” option is to use the automatic dialing telephone there. Just lifting the receiver connects the person to officers at police station and provides the caller’s location, even if no words are spoken.

The phone system is available at all 824 koban and 257 smaller substations across Tokyo.

To address the possibility of visitors not being aware of the direct call phone, the MPD ordered koban to install the device on the desk just beside the entrances following the Katsushika case.

Eye-catching signs to promote the automatic police phone system were also introduced, and Tokyo police said further efforts will be made to raise awareness of the phones among citizens.

Tokyo police in fiscal 2018 also started operating a camera system fitted with a human sensor so that visual and auditory data from koban can be checked by police stations in real time. Data on people entering koban is also sent to stations.

The MPD plans to make the system operational at all koban.

“We will further strengthen our abilities for improved safety and security of local residents,” an MPD official said.

Koban management varies depending on the prefecture. Many koban outside Tokyo lock their doors when no one is there to prevent thefts.

In some areas, crime victims at empty koban must still reportedly push 110 or speed dial on the phones to contact police stations.

Osamu Nakamura, a professor emeritus of local town design at Chiba University, said the situation remains risky.

“Citizens view koban as sites where police officers help them,” he said. “Koban could become dangerous places, like in the latest incident (in Katsushika Ward), unless there are always officers at the establishments.”

However, Nakamura said he understands why koban cannot be manned at all times.

“Police should make as many citizens as possible learn that koban sometimes do not have officers, and police stations should send personnel to koban in cases of emergency,” he said.

Nobuo Komiya, a criminology professor at Rissho University, said officers “should always be stationed in principle,” but if that is impossible, a video conference system and other devices must be put in operation at empty koban.

“Showing images of police officers on the screen may help scare away culprits,” Komiya said.

(This article was written by Emi Iwata, Nobuyuki Takiguchi and Yosuke Takashima.)