Photo/Illutration Police investigate a vehicle that rammed into a barrier outside the prime minister’s office in October. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Police are ramping up efforts to protect politicians during the Upper House election campaign in July following high-profile attacks, including the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. 

The National Police Agency on June 23 set up a center to consolidate information on lone wolf attackers as well as threats to the election obtained by prefectural police departments.

The “lone offender threat information integration center” will analyze the intelligence and call on prefectural police departments to investigate and implement countermeasures.

“The two wheels of protection (of politicians) at speech venues and intelligence-based measures must both function effectively,” a senior agency official said.

The NPA defines lone offenders as “radicalized individuals who are unaffiliated with specific terror groups.”

They include not only perpetrators motivated by certain political principles and ideas but also those who could inflict violence on many and unspecified members of the public.

Abe was shot to death during a campaign speech for an Upper House election in Nara in July 2022.

In April 2023, Fumio Kishida, prime minister at the time, was attacked with an explosive device while campaigning for a Lower House by-election candidate in Wakayama.

Police believe that Tetsuya Yamagami, who is accused of murdering Abe, and Ryuji Kimura, who has been convicted of the attempted murder of Kishida, both acted alone in their crimes.

A senior police officer said it is difficult to foresee a threat posed by a lone offender, such as the manufacturing of weapons, compared with members of terror groups.

Yamagami allegedly assembled the gun he used in the crime, while Kimura is believed to have produced the explosive device. But investigators failed to anticipate their attempts.

A suspected lone actor also threw firebombs into the headquarters of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and rammed his vehicle into a barrier outside the prime minister’s office in October.

Police have been beefing up information-gathering efforts on such individuals planning political violence.

A “command center” has been set up in the security department of all prefectural police departments since spring 2024.

A similar role was assigned to the chief of the security division at each police station in April this year.

The number of investigators responsible for countermeasures against lone offenders nationwide has roughly doubled from two years ago, police said.

Police have been calling on residents and real estate agents to report unusual noises or odors that may result from the manufacturing of weapons.

In addition to asking businesses selling chemicals to confirm the identities of those who purchase substances that can be used in explosives, authorities increased the number of such substances from 11 to 16 in April.

Investigators also plan to collect information on potential lone culprits, such as death threats and weapons production, from social media and other sources.

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