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The story
A freedom-of-information request has revealed that a sergeant in his 20s, working in the criminal investigations division of a police station in Hyogo Prefecture’s Tajima region, was hit with a formal warning from his station chief after being found guilty of “reverse power harassment” against his direct superior, an assistant inspector in his 30s. The sergeant had repeatedly engaged in intimidating behavior, including publicly criticizing the assistant inspector in front of other officers with remarks like “why hasn’t that been done?” The case came to light after the assistant inspector himself requested a transfer. Three male officers were also disciplined — one for badmouthing the assistant inspector after his transfer, and others for making disparaging remarks about a female assistant inspector in her 40s who was working reduced hours. On 5channel, the story sparked debate: some questioned whether this stretches the usual definition of power harassment (which normally requires the harasser to hold the position of authority), others argued that public criticism itself was the real problem, and still others chalked it up to the attitude of today’s younger generation.
A freedom-of-information request to the Hyogo Prefectural Police has revealed that in August, the department issued a formal warning from the station chief to a male sergeant in his 20s for repeatedly engaging in “reverse power harassment” against his male superior, an assistant inspector in his 30s.
According to the department’s inspector general’s office, the sergeant, who works in the criminal investigations division of a police station in the Tajima region, repeatedly engaged in intimidating behavior toward his direct superior between around August of last year and May of this year — including publicly pointing out mistakes in front of other officers with comments like “why hasn’t that been done?” The matter came to light when the assistant inspector himself requested a transfer to a different post.
The department also issued formal warnings to three other male officers, including another sergeant, for badmouthing the transferred assistant inspector with remarks such as “I won’t forgive him.” The same three officers also made inappropriate comments about a female assistant inspector in her 40s who was working reduced hours, saying things like “she takes off even when we’re busy” while she wasn’t present.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Isn't this just abuse of a position of superiority? Power harassment? I'm not really following.
Yeah, the definition of power harassment is supposed to require the harasser to be in the superior position.
This "reverse power harassment" ruling is actually pretty forward-thinking, in a way.
Isn't disciplining him for it a form of harassment too?
I'm completely lost.
So now you can't even scold someone to their face?
Having to change locations just to point out a mistake — give me a break.
Still, classic Gen Z — terrible at handling relationships.
Exactly this.
It's a product of the education system.
Schools let students talk back to teachers casually these days, so of course it ends up like this.
And then teachers address students with "-san."
So who's actually running the show here? ("デコ助" is old slang mocking an authority figure, like "the man in charge")
That's the real power harassment right there.
For civil servants, saving face is everything.
If they don't discipline a subordinate who made the boss lose face, they'll be the next one targeted.
it's better to have a third party present when raising a work issue.
Something like "how dare you embarrass me in front of everyone"?
That's not it — the intimidating manner was the issue.
They judged that the point wasn't correcting a work mistake, but publicly calling him out.
If a junior officer points out your mistake, it's on you as the boss to make sure it doesn't happen again.
These days competence is everything — rank shouldn't matter.
Competence only gets you so far — order and hierarchy matter more.
It's a massive organization, so that kind of thing just doesn't fly.
Being alone together is actually more dangerous, if anything.
A subordinate's behavior gets labeled power harassment now?
Maybe they meant "moral harassment" instead. (a Japanese-coined term for psychological/verbal abuse that doesn't require a power differential)
Isn't a little badmouthing behind someone's back fine though? Saying it to their face would cause friction, sure, but if you can't even vent behind their back, the stress just builds up lol.
There are plenty of incompetent bosses out there anyway.
I'm all for badmouthing behind someone's back lol
If it's genuinely private, like at an izakaya after work, that's fine.
But this was at the workplace, said loud enough for others to hear — the guy just not being physically present doesn't make it private.
That's not okay.
It poisons the work environment.
and apparently it's an absolutely unreasonable world in there.
Replying to my own post —
it's the channel called "Ex-Cop Channel" (警察官辞めたch).
When you actually get a peek behind the curtain, it's an insanely unreasonable world.
Well, of course it is —
it's a job where you're expected to lay down your life for citizens.
It's not the kind of organization where you can bring your typical cushy-corporate-job mindset.
he must be an extremely capable subordinate, right?
Otherwise it's hard to imagine.
Sounds like he just didn't want to work, so "capable" seems unlikely.
So he's just a foolish subordinate, then.
A guy like this would get disciplined wherever he went.
Background and key points of this story
Under Japan’s Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labor Measures, one of the requirements for power harassment is behavior that leverages “a position of relative advantage” — it isn’t determined solely by formal rank. In this case, even though the sergeant was technically the subordinate, what drew scrutiny was the manner of his repeated public criticism, which is what fueled the thread’s debate over whether this stretches the standard definition of power harassment. It’s also worth noting — something the headline alone doesn’t convey — that the discipline wasn’t limited to the sergeant himself; it also extended to three male officers who badmouthed the transferred assistant inspector and made inappropriate remarks about a female assistant inspector on reduced working hours. In a police organization known for its strict hierarchy, the fact that the manner of the criticism itself became grounds for discipline is a point that echoes how harassment policies play out at ordinary companies too.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5channel (News Express+) thread “[Hyogo Prefectural Police] “Why hasn’t that been done?” — Sergeant in His 20s Disciplined for “Reverse Power Harassment” After Publicly Calling Out Superior’s Mistake.”
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