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
5AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:31
Come on, power harassment can only be committed by a superior — that's the whole definition.
12AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:34
Re: #5
Isn't this just abuse of a position of superiority? Power harassment? I'm not really following.
49AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:41
Re: #5 In the police force's case, the subordinates are armed with guns too, so…
152AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:59
Re: #5
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.
11AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:34
Seriously, that counts as power harassment now?
Isn't disciplining him for it a form of harassment too?
I'm completely lost.
27AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:37
Re: #11
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.
15AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:35
Police departments really don't have great internal communication.
Still, classic Gen Z — terrible at handling relationships.
25AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:37
A rookie who barely knows which way is up coming at his superior with that kind of attitude — sign of the times, I guess.
41AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:38
Re: #25
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")
59AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:42
Getting disciplined for pointing out your boss's mistake?
That's the real power harassment right there.
63AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:44
Re: #59
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.
79AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:46
Boss or not,
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"?
103AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:50
Re: #79
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.
80AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:46
Honestly, the assistant inspector is the one who should be taking notes here.
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.
87AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:48
Re: #80
Competence only gets you so far — order and hierarchy matter more.
105AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:50
Re: #80
It's a massive organization, so that kind of thing just doesn't fly.
94AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:49
So you're only allowed to complain when it's just the two of you?
108AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:51
Re: #94
Being alone together is actually more dangerous, if anything.
99AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:49
Isn't the "power" in "power harassment" supposed to mean authority or rank?
A subordinate's behavior gets labeled power harassment now?
109AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:51
Re: #99
Maybe they meant "moral harassment" instead. (a Japanese-coined term for psychological/verbal abuse that doesn't require a power differential)
127AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:54
Re: #1
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.
141AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:56
Re: #127
I'm all for badmouthing behind someone's back lol
144AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:57
Re: #127
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.
157AnonymousSep 19, 2026 23:00
There's a YouTube channel that only interviews people who quit being police officers,
and apparently it's an absolutely unreasonable world in there.
170AnonymousSep 19, 2026 23:02
Re: #157
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.
171AnonymousSep 19, 2026 23:03
Re: #157
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.
180AnonymousSep 19, 2026 23:04
Being able to call out your boss in front of everyone like that —
he must be an extremely capable subordinate, right?
Otherwise it's hard to imagine.
182AnonymousSep 19, 2026 23:04
Re: #180
Sounds like he just didn't want to work, so "capable" seems unlikely.
187AnonymousSep 19, 2026 23:06
Re: #180
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.”
