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Japan Riot Police
Within their security divisions, each prefectural level
police
department and the Tokyo police maintain special riot
units. These
units were formed after riots at the Imperial Palace in
1952, to
respond quickly and effectively to large public
disturbances. They
are also used in crowd control during festival periods, at
times of
natural disaster, and to reinforce regular police when
necessary.
Full-time riot police can also be augmented by regular
police
trained in riot duties.
In handling demonstrations and violent disturbances,
riot units
are deployed en masse, military style. It is common
practice for
files of riot police to line streets through which
demonstrations
passed. If demonstrators grows disorderly or deviated from
officially countenanced areas, riot police stand
shoulder-to-
shoulder, sometimes three and four deep, to push with
their hands
to control the crowds. Individual action is forbidden.
Three-person
units sometimes perform reconnaissance duties, but more
often
operations are carried out by squads of nine to eleven,
platoons of
twenty-seven to thirty-three, and companies of eighty to
one
hundred. Front ranks are trained to open to allow passage
of
special squads to rescue captured police or to engage in
tear gas
assaults. Each person wears a radio with an earpiece to
hear
commands given simultaneously to the formation.
The riot police are committed to using disciplined,
nonlethal
force and carry no firearms. They are trained to take
pride in
their poise under stress. Demonstrators also are usually
restrained
(see Civil Disturbances
, this ch.). Police brutality is
rarely an
issue. When excesses occur, the perpetrator is disciplined
and
sometimes transferred from the force if considered unable
to keep
his temper.
Extensive experience in quelling violent disorders led
to the
development of special uniforms and equipment for the riot
police
units. Riot dress consists of a field-type jacket, which
covered
several pieces of body armor and includes a corselet hung
from the
waist, an aluminum plate down the backbone, and shoulder
pads.
Armored gauntlets cover the hands and forearms. Helmets
have
faceplates and flared padded skirts down the back to
protect the
neck. In case of violence, the front ranks carry 1.2-meter
shields
to protect against staves and rocks and hold nets on high
poles to
catch flying objects. Specially designed equipment
includes water
cannons, armored vans, and mobile tunnels for protected
entry into
seized buildings.
Because riot police duties require special group
action, units
are maintained in virtually self-sufficient compounds and
trained
to work as a coordinated force. The overwhelming majority
of
officers are bachelors who live in dormitories within riot
police
compounds. Training is constant and focuses on physical
conditioning, mock battles, and tactical problems. A
military
atmosphere prevails--dress codes, behavior standards, and
rank
differentiations are more strictly adhered to than in the
regular
police. Esprit de corps is inculcated with regular
ceremonies and
institutionalization of rituals such as applauding
personnel
dispatched to or returning from assignments and formally
welcoming
senior officers to the mess hall at all meals.
Riot duty is not popular because it entails special
sacrifices
and much boredom in between irregularly spaced actions.
Although
many police are assigned riot duty, only a few are
volunteers. For
many personnel, riot duty serves as a stepping stone
because of its
reputation and the opportunities it presents to study for
the
advanced police examinations necessary for promotion.
Because riot
duties demands physical fitness--the armored uniform
weighed 6.6
kilograms--most personnel are young, often serving in the
units
after an initial assignment in a koban.
Data as of January 1994
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