Japanese exchange

Bedfordshire Police played host to a Japanese police officer last month during a fact finding trip to the UK. Detective Sergeant Tomohide Kato visited Bedfordshire Police at the invitation of Luton patrol officer PC Phil Cowell who had heard he was on a development trip with Warwickshire Police. PC Cowell, who was brought up in Japan and is a fluent
Japanese speaker, was able to use his language skills to the full and acted as a guide for DS Kato throughout his visit.

PC Cowell also took the opportunity to get to know if there were any similarities in the challenges faced by the Japanese Police Service compared to those in the UK. PC Cowell said: "I found it fascinating that the biggest crime issue facing Japanese society was fraud by transient workers and that there is hardly any anti social behaviour and what is recorded is mostly breaches of the no smoking policy in public places.

"I am sure DS Kato found it fascinating to be able to see how other countries use high tech equipment to crackdown on crime but I was also surprised that most of the Japanese policing system is still paper based and there is no CCTV used."

DS Kato, who has been a police officer for 8 years and works in the town of Arai, Shizuoka, which is close to Mount Fuji, commented during his visit on the differences in the arrest powers that UK
police officers have compared to Japanese officers but also recognised a similarity within the UK's Safer Neighbourhood Teams and the service's commitment to the Policing Pledge.

DS Kato said: "There is a strong community policing flavour in Japan and each household is visited at least once of year by police officers conducting a census and offering crime reduction advice."