Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau

The Public Security Bureau (警視庁公安部, Keishichō-kōanbu) is a bureau of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD) in charge of public security with jurisdiction over the Tokyo metropolis. It has a force of more than 2,000 officers. The bureau reports to the Deputy Superintendent General.[1]

Public Security Bureau
警視庁公安部
Keishichō-kōanbu
Active1946 - present
CountryJapan
AgencyTokyo Metropolitan Police Department
HeadquartersTokyo
AbbreviationPSB
Structure
Officers2,000

In the Japanese police organization, only the Metropolitan Police Department becomes "the bureau" where the security police branch becomes independent. In other prefectural police forces, the Public Security Section and Foreign Affairs Division are installed in a Security Department. Tokyo is seen as an exception since it had been working with the Japanese National Police Agency for the longest time since they share the same location.[2]

The PSB is not the Japanese equivalent of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, despite some claims that it is.[3] It does not concern with ordinary criminal activities. The main focus of the PSB are activities which threaten national security and therefore, the purpose is much similar to Special Branches of British and Commonwealth police forces.

History

The establishment of the PSB started in 1946 with a Civil Intelligence Section skeleton staff provided by GHQ under the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers under G-2.[4] The CIS were instrumental to recreate the organization from scratch after pre-occupation law enforcement agencies were disbanded.[4]

The PSB had been mobilized to investigate all Aum Shinrikyo facilities after the deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.[5] Following the discovery of an Aum cultist who had been employed by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force after sensitive military information had been leaked out, the PSB had investigated the matter.[6] The PSB had been the leading agency to investigate reports that Aum Shinrikyo had acquired names of 3,000 Honda executives and sensitive data from government ministries and other important facilities via Aum-created software.[7][8]

Cases

The PSB had failed in securing a Russian man wanted for spying in Japanese territory as a suspected agent of the SVR since the 1960s when he left Japan in 1995 and reentered the country several times before being unaccounted for when the spy used a Japanese name to obtain a Japanese passport in Vienna.[9]

An ex-Japanese Air Self-Defense Forces warrant officer had been investigated by the PSB in 2002 for divulging military secrets under the Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement to a Russian GRU operative, who was identified as Aleksei Shchelkonogov.[10] Three activists of the Tachikawa Jieitai Kanshi Tentomura had been said to be prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International when they had arrested by police with the PSB investigating them for conducting anti-war activities after illegally entering an SDF housing complex in Tachikawa in 2004.[11] PSB officers had been involved in the arrest of former Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office (CIRO) official Toshihiko Shimizu, accused of providing classified data to a Russian embassy official, supposedly posing as a diplomat in 2008.[12][13] under the National Public Service Law.[13]

On December 15, 2020, PSB officers investigated the activities of a South Koream man living in Tokyo accused of hacking into the Chongryon website and the Korea News Service.[14]

Scandals

After a discovery of sophisticated radios by police during a raid on a JRCL Revolutionary Marxist Faction safehouse on April 10, 1998, PSB officials had reorganized their communications network to better safeguard it against unwanted intrusions.[3][15]

In 2014, a report was made thanks to a leak that PSB officers were conducting covert surveillance activities on Muslims residents living in the Greater Tokyo Area.[16]

Organization

In the Bureau, there are divisions and units as below:[17]

General Administration Division (公安総務課)
In addition to four deputy managers mandated for indoor service (General Affairs (庶務), Accounts (会計), Public Security Planning (公安企画) and Public Security Ordinance (公安法令)), there are eight deputy managers mandated for public security investigation. The Fifth and Sixth Deputy Manager of Public Security Investigation are mandated for counter-terrorism investigations, and from the First to Fourth are mandated for others.[17]
First Public Security Division (公安第一課)
There are four deputy managers and eight units, all are mandated for public security investigation against left-wing rebel groups.[17]
Second Public Security Division (公安第二課)
There are three deputy managers and seven units, mainly mandated for public security investigation against left-wing groups and labor unrest.[17]
Third Public Security Division (公安第三課)
There are five deputy managers and nine units, all are mandated for public security investigation against right-wing groups.[17]
Fourth Public Security Division (公安第四課)
There are two deputy managers and units, mandated for public security investigation affairs assigned specially.[17]
First Foreign Affairs Division (外事第一課)
There are three deputy managers and five units, mainly mandated for public security investigation and counterintelligence affairs related to Europe.[17]
Second Foreign Affairs Division (外事第二課)
There are three deputy managers and seven units, mandated for public security investigation and counterintelligence affairs related to Asia.[17]
Third Foreign Affairs Division (外事第三課)
There are three deputy managers and six units, mandated for public security investigation and counterintelligence affairs related to international terrorism.[17]
Public Security Mobile Investigation Unit (公安機動捜査隊)
Mandated for initial investigation under PSB's jurisdiction including criminal/espionage/terrorist cases. Also has a NBC Terrorist Investigation Unit.

Training

Prospective PSB officers are trained at the National Police Academy in intelligence gathering techniques.[18]

Known heads of PSB

References
  1. TMPD. "TMPD Organizational Chart (2019 Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department)" (PDF). p. 34. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  2. "Japanese Police". Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  3. Steve Macko. "JAPANESE POLICE STILL HAVE TROUBLE WITH LEFTIST RADICALS". Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-24.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V1%20Sup/ch8.htm
  5. "Day of Judgement". Yomiuri Shimbun. 2004-02-19. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  6. "Aum Shinri-kyo Updates (CESNUR) - April 10-17, 2000". CESNUR.
  7. "Aum computer firm got list of 3,000 Honda execs". The Japan Times. 2000-03-03. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  8. "Sumitomo Bank, Hosei University on Aum-related PC firms' client list". The Japan Times. 2000-03-12. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  9. "LEAD: Police send papers on man alleged to have spied for Russia for 30 yrs+date=2009-06-24". Associated Press.
  10. "Suspected Russian spy sought by MPD". The Japan Times. 2002-03-23. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  11. Hiroshi Matsubara (2004-05-13). "Activists claim political oppression". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  12. "Papers sent to prosecutor on Japanese intelligence official, Russian 'spy' over information leak". 2008-01-27. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  13. "Official probed over leak to Russian agent". The Japan Times. 2008-01-17. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  14. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20201216/p2a/00m/0na/021000c
  15. "Raid on leftist lair yields police radio recordings". The Japan Times. 1998-04-10. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  16. https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CERD/Shared%20Documents/JPN/INT_CERD_NGO_JPN_17783_E.pdf
  17. Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (August 1, 1963). 警視庁本部の課長代理の担当並びに係の名称及び分掌事務に関する規程 [Rules concerning the charge of deputy manager, the name of the units and division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department headquarters] (PDF). Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  18. Andrew Oros (2008-06-09). "Japan's Growing Intelligence Capabilities" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-20. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  19. "Prosecutors drop NPA shooting case". The Japan Times. 2004-07-29. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  20. "Security Bureau chief to head MPD". The Japan Times. 2004-01-17. Retrieved 2009-06-24.

Bibliography
  • Katzenstein, Peter J. (2008). Rethinking Japanese Security: Internal and External Dimensions. Routledge.
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