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The story
A Mainichi Shimbun report has revealed that a male sergeant in his twenties serving at the Kanagawa Prefectural Police’s Hodogaya Station illegally took home old driver’s licenses that should have been collected at the license-renewal counter, and lost dozens of them in one go after a night of drinking. The licenses were packed with personal information — names, addresses, and photographs — and as of the report, neither the circumstances of the loss nor the officer’s motive had been disclosed. On 5ch, reactions came from many angles: questions about how a management system could let licenses meant to be collected and processed end up in an individual officer’s hands, speculation about his motive for taking them, and frustration over Kanagawa Prefectural Police’s string of scandals.
Kanagawa Police Sergeant Illegally Takes Driver’s Licenses, Loses Dozens After Drinking
Published 10/8 (Thu) 15:32
Mainichi Shimbun
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
He probably looked through the photos, picked a woman he liked, and grabbed her license to get her address?
and I bet the whole 'lost them while drinking' story is just a cover.
But then it doesn't make sense that they were turned in to police as lost property.
They actually were reported as lost property, so that's probably not it.
these guys are just criminals wearing cop uniforms lol
These days being a cop is basically just a cover for committing crimes.
Same with all these IT data leaks — I really think it's a problem that the legislature isn't doing its job properly.
Is it one of those 'nothing moves unless you donate' deals? (´・ω・｀) That's not really it, is it?
You can invent a fake 'real' informant, pretend you paid them a reward, and pocket the money yourself.
Not sure exactly what you'd suspend, but
cops who pull stunts like this usually quit on their own before it gets that far.
It's a strict seniority-based organization, so there's no path to promotion left if he stays, and he can't stand everyone's cold stares, so he hands in his resignation.
If he resigns voluntarily, he gets his retirement payout and it's easier to land another job afterward.
If he's dismissed for misconduct, he can't get hired in the private sector and loses the payout.
Of course — no indictment, not guilty.
I wonder how many people a day come to Hodogaya Station to renew their license.
Please explain specifically what the problem is with losing that.
Are you an idiot?
It's packed full of personal information.
your police force is Kanagawa Prefectural Police.
Seriously, this.
When I reported a hit-and-run on my car, the officer just smirked and said,
'Hit-and-runs almost never get solved, you know… lol'
They didn't investigate at all, it was hilarious (in a bad way).
Apparently some office worker he knew wanted dirt on the other party in a money dispute
and offered him 100,000 yen for it.
Though apparently he never actually got paid.
That's dismissal for misconduct AND prison time right there.
I live in Kanagawa, so… yeah, I get it.
The area along the Sotetsu Line is rough, yeah.
None of Kanagawa Police's scandals are really a laughing matter at this point.
You could even use these for identity theft impersonating someone (so-called 'haenori').
This is a seriously outrageous case.
Deserves a Diet hearing.
I'd like to take mine home too, but the renewal process always moves like a conveyor belt —
before I know it, they've just handed me the new license and it's over.
At the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, returning the old license is the default,
but when I moved back to Toyama they just kept mine and I never got it back.
So this second time, I stuck a note on it saying 'please return this'
and got it back.
(By the rules, you can request it back anywhere in the country.)
The officer handling it was laughing about it.
This board has said it a lot —
it's not just public servants; private banks and insurance companies seem shady too.
No matter what job someone has, there are always people short on money,
and people short on money will sell anything.
But doesn't this really cross a line?
Why would you do such a thing?!
Because the iceberg was there.🌋
Background and Key Points of This Story
For driver’s license renewals, the standard practice in many prefectures is that the old license is either punched/processed on the spot and handed back to the holder, or returned on request. One post in the thread (#213) recounts getting an old license back by attaching a note reading ‘please return this,’ which suggests these documents aren’t meant to be something an individual officer simply takes home on his own. The issue here is that the sergeant privately took home a license that should have been returned or processed, then lost it while out drinking — meaning he lost a large batch of documents packed with personal information: names, addresses, and photographs. On 5ch, speculation about his motive ranged from ‘he wanted the license of a woman he liked’ to ‘he was planning to resell them,’ but as of the Mainichi Shimbun’s report no motive had been disclosed, so this remains pure speculation. Coming amid a string of police scandal reports, the case also drew notable frustration over how lax the organization’s oversight and disciplinary procedures are.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News Express+) thread ‘[Kanagawa Prefectural Police] Hodogaya Station Sergeant in His 20s Illegally Takes Driver’s Licenses, Loses Dozens After Drinking.’
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