## Section 1: Police Organization

### 1. Public Safety Commission System

The Public Safety Commission System was established to ensure the political neutrality of the police and in consideration that it would be appropriate for persons representing the good sense of the nation's citizens to supervise the police in order to prevent any self-righteousness in the way the police operate. The National Public Safety Commission (NPSC) was set up on a national level to supervise the NPA, while Prefectural Public Safety Commissions (PPSC) were set up at prefectural levels to supervise the prefectural police. In addition, the Minister of State is appointed as the Chairman of the NPSC in order to coordinate the two requirements of ensuring the political neutrality of the police and clarifying the administrative responsibilities of the Cabinet in relation to public safety.

### 2. National and Prefectural Police Organization

In contrast to the prefectural police that assume centralized enforcement duties, the NPA, as a national agency, formulates police systems and also conducts police operations regarding cases involving national public safety, undertakes the administration of matters which form the foundation of police activities such as police education and training, police communications, criminal identification as well as the development of police administration. In addition, as of April 1, 2012, along with police headquarters, police academies and other facilities, there were 1,174 police stations in the 47 prefectural police.

## Section 2: Public Safety Commission Activities

## 1 National Public Safety Commission

In accordance with the Police Act and other laws, the NPSC supervise the NPA by undertaking administrative tasks that fall within the scope of its authority, such as the establishment of NPSC Regulations, appointment of or taking disciplinary action against local senior police officers (officers among prefectural police organizations ranked Assistant Commissioner and higher), confirmation of the relevancy of practical objectives and requirements when designating a designated Boryokudan (organized crime group), etc. It also gives guidance to the NPA concerning measures to prevent the various cases of misconduct by police personnel, etc. During 2011, the NPSC established 12 NPSC rules including the rule on inspection rounds at detention facilities.

Regular meeting of the NPSC

Although the NPSC usually convenes regular meetings every week on Thursdays, other than regular meetings, extraordinary meetings, such as the meeting held on March 12, 2011 in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake, are also convened. In addition, the NPSC strives to maintain an understanding of the state of public safety and police operations through the mutual exchange of views between members of the commission, and by listening to reports from the NPA, conducting visits by NPSC members to nationwide locations, exchanging views with PPSC members and conducting on-site inspections of police activities.

Case: In October 2011, a member of the NPSC visited Fukushima Prefecture to inspect the status of damage caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and to encourage the dispatch unit officers engaged in activities in the affected areas

NPSC member encouraging dispatch unit officers engaged in activities in the affected areas (second from the left).