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The story
Osaka Prefectural Police handed a three-month suspension to a male officer in his 30s for stealing three kendo masks (men) that were stored in a police station’s dojo and selling them on a flea market app. The case came to light after a backpack bearing a police logo was spotted for sale on an online flea market; when the platform was asked to disclose the seller’s information, the officer was identified and admitted to the theft. On 5ch, users questioned why he wasn’t arrested on theft charges, and the case drew comparisons to a 2023 incident in which the Tokyo Fire Department dismissed a fire captain for a similar offense, with opinions split over whether this punishment was too lenient.
Osaka Prefectural Police announced that a male officer in his 30s has been given a three-month suspension for stealing kendo gear stored at a police station.
According to the police, it came to light in May this year that a backpack bearing a police logo was being sold on an online flea market.
After the flea market platform was asked to disclose seller information, it turned out the male officer had listed the item, and he admitted to it. Osaka Prefectural Police also found he had stolen three kendo masks left by other station staff, and handed him a three-month suspension.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
The way this is phrased feels like they're pulling punches — normally they'd just say "Mercari," but here they wrote "flea market site" instead.
That's not an explanation.
Civil servants go easy on their own.
They wouldn't even get arrested for murder.
Guess that means stealing other people's stuff isn't a crime then.
Arresting him means a pile of paperwork and procedures — better to just wait for him to resign.
This is basically how these police disciplinary cases work:
"We'll overlook the dismissal, so just resign on your own during the suspension."
(´・ω・`)
And what if he doesn't?
Sounds like the poster boy for tone-deaf incompetence.
If he resigns they'd have to pay out his retirement benefits.
I think just firing him would be fine.
Who even buys that, and for what?
It was kept in storage, y'know.
A full set of kendo gear is seriously expensive.
Back in middle school I joined the kendo club because there wasn't any other club I could get into, and my parents had to ask around to find someone willing to hand down used gear.
Is that really how it is?
Seems like a hassle to me, what with shipping and dealing with complaints.
August 4, 2023, 8:02 PM
https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2023080401093&g=soc
The Tokyo Fire Department dismissed Tomonori Saito, 47, a fire captain at Joto Fire Station, on the 4th, for selling issued equipment such as helmets on a flea market app. The captain reportedly said his motive was "the thrill of having a bid won," adding, "I've lost people's trust, and I deeply regret it."
According to the department, between April 2019 and June this year the captain sold at least 42 items across 25 types of gear — including helmets and rescue suits marked with the Tokyo Fire Department's name — on Mercari and Rakuma, earning roughly 360,000 yen in profit.
The listed items reportedly included gear loaned to colleagues and station supplies, suggesting the captain stole them from shared lockers and supply rooms.
The department says it is considering filing a criminal complaint for theft and is working to recover the listed items.
In Tokyo it's outright dismissal, but in Osaka it's just a 3-month vacation lol.
Is that a police-vs-fire-department thing?
Or is Osaka just soft on criminals — no named reporting and a lighter punishment?
The idea is he's supposed to resign on his own during this period.
Of course — the people doing the hiring are already a bunch of bad apples themselves, so it's birds of a feather.
I get what you're saying, but it's not like civil servants back in the day were exactly upstanding either.
Small and mid-size factories are seriously staffed almost entirely by foreign workers now.
Give it ten years and we won't even be able to maintain infrastructure.
Going by case law on disciplinary actions, dismissing him for something this size would actually count as excessive — it wouldn't hold up.
There's a going rate for these punishments.
I think 3 months' suspension is reasonable.
He won't be able to stay anyway — there's no way he can stand everyone's cold stares.
Case law isn't absolute — rulings can and do shift with the times.
Punishments like this won't win public understanding, and honestly, standards should get stricter.
Then again, no matter the era, there's no way the public would ever accept a thief who stole taxpayer-funded equipment going without arrest.
(°∀°) A "try-er"… no wait, that's not very gentle-sounding, so I guess he's a "challenge-kid" instead……… (wordplay on トライ人/チャレン児, riffing on "try" vs. "challenge")
(°∀°)つ Corn grits
(°~°) *nom nom* (stock 5ch ASCII-art meme reaction)
Asics or someone needs to hurry up and invent gloves that don't stink.
(°∀°) Isn't the mask (men) just as bad? Time for the Odor-Busting Swordsman to step in.
(°∀°)つ Black oolong tea
(/◎＼) *glug*
Background and Key Points of This Story
Disciplinary action against civil servants in Japan follows the National and Local Public Service Employee Acts, with penalties ranging from a reprimand up to dismissal, decided based on the nature of the act, the degree of remorse shown, and consistency with past disciplinary cases. Dismissal has a major impact on the individual’s livelihood and carries the risk of being ruled an abuse of disciplinary authority in court, so even in theft cases it’s not unusual for the punishment to stop at suspension. Commenters on the thread pointed to a 2023 case in which a Tokyo Fire Department fire captain was dismissed for stealing loaned equipment, questioning the gap between the two punishments — though factors like the number of items stolen, the value of the damage, and differences in each organization’s internal rules make a simple comparison difficult, details the article alone doesn’t clarify.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News速報+) thread ““I took it out to try selling it, and it sold right away, so…” — Cop disciplined for stealing kendo gear from police station dojo and listing it on a flea market app.”
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