following are investigative methods in other countries that are helpful in viewing police investigations going forward.

## 1 Wiretapping/Conversation Monitoring (1) Wiretapping

The annual number of warrants issued in Europe and the United States for wiretapping runs over a hundred thousand in Italy, and anywhere from tens of thousands to thousands in all other countries. By comparison, the number issued in Japan is 64, which is less than one-fiftieth of the number issued in the United Kingdom and the United States. There is a wide variety of offenses for which wiretapping can be used in Europe and the United States, including murder, robbery, rape, arson, fraud, and bribery. In other countries wiretapping is an investigative method that is widely utilized in investigations into serious crimes, but in Japan its use is restricted to four types of offenses.

In addition, compared to Europe and the United States, the systems and requirements in Japan that allow wiretapping are rigorous, and impose heavy constraints, such as having to conduct tapping under the continuous presence of a telecommunications carrier in the facilities of a telecommunications carrier.

Wiretapping facility in Italy

## (2) Conversation Monitoring

Conversation monitoring is an investigative method where, after obtaining a warrant, monitoring equipment is placed in the home or other location managed by a person targeted by investigation to monitor and record the words and actions of the person under investigation to acquire evidence. It is not instituted in Japan, but is established in the United States and European countries. Of these countries, in the United States and Italy it is possible to carry out conversation monitoring for the same offenses and implementation procedures for which wiretapping is applicable.

If conversation monitoring is instituted in Japan, it would conceivably contribute to the arrest of leaders of organized crime and other individuals involved in special fraud and offenses committed by organized crime groups.

## 2 Undercover Operations

An undercover operation is an investigative method where an investigator uses a fake identity to come into contact with persons under investigation to collect information and evidence. Though it is not instituted in Japan, it is implemented in the United States and European countries.

If undercover operation is instituted in Japan, it would conceivably be useful in contributing to the acquisition of physical evidence and criminal information that gets to the heart of organized crime, and the ability to avert the risk of an organized crime group member causing injury to an investigator or his/her family.

## 3 Witness Protection

Europe and the United States have established a variety of systems to ensure the safety of witnesses and their families.

These systems not only secure the testimony and appearance of a witness at trial, but also likely reduce the emotional and economic burdens on a witness, thus contributing to the assurance of cooperation in an investigation from the investigative stage.

## Section 5: Looking Ahead

After WWII, the police became the primary investigating authority that takes on the responsibility of executing investigations for citizens. Since then, police investigations have not only fulfilled a role in criminal justice proceedings, but have also protected the life, physical body and property of an individual, and have come to fulfill an important role in executing the police responsibilities and duties of maintaining public safety and order. This will remain unchanged, no matter how the investigative environment changes.