the police have received information on 566 people and are using this information to prevent crimes and expedite investigations while taking care not to hinder the released persons’ rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

## (2) Information sharing regarding the release of offenders of major felonious crimes

Since September, 2005, the police have been receiving information from the MOJ on the release information of offenders of major felonious crimes $ ^{1} $ that have served or are serving in penal institutions and are scheduled to be released including the crimes for which they were imprisoned and their release date.

Since the start of this operation until the end of 2008, the police have received information on approximately 92,000 people and are using this information to narrow down suspects speedily and accurately when similar crimes occur.

## (3) Information sharing regarding offenders who are on parole and whose whereabouts are unknown

Regarding offenders who are on parole and offenders who are on probation with a suspended sentence whose whereabouts are unknown, from December, 2005, the police have been cooperating with the investigation of their whereabouts based on a request for cooperation from the probation office. If the police obtain information on their whereabouts, the information will be passed on to the probation office. This contributes to the proper operation of the probation system.

Since this operation stared until the end of 2008, the police have passed on information to the probation office for 1,568 cases and in 1,319 cases the probation office was able to confirm the whereabouts of the offenders based on the information (source: MOJ, preliminary figures).

Note 1: Major felonious crimes such as murder and robbery as well as crimes that easily escalate to such crimes such as burglaries and drug related crimes which also have a high risk of reoccurrence.

### 4. Immediate Response to Cases and Accidents

In the occurrence of incidents or accidents, police officers stationed in kobans and chuzaishos immediately head toward the scene of action and take measures to arrest the criminal etc. In order for police officers to reach the crime scene without delay, the police are promoting measures including the utilization of patrol cars, while maintaining systems for receiving “dial 110” calls and relaying directives to police stations.

## (1) Current Status of “Dial 110”

Although the number of dial 110 calls received in 2008 fell by approximately 60,000 over the previous year to around 8.92 million, the number of calls still remains high. This figure means that a call was made every 3.5 seconds, and that 1 out of every 14 citizens placed a call. Furthermore, over half of the calls were made from mobile or other wireless phones (63.5%).

The police declared 10 January as “dial 110 day” and are asking the person to use dial 110 calls appropriately by using “# (pound) dial 9110” set up exclusively for the purpose of dealing with consultations that do not require a urgent response. The police also ask that when dialing from a mobile phone, callers specify the location, address, and landmarks and try not to change locations while calling.