Because of its budget cut of about 40%, duties to be cut back for the “Okinawa Regional Safety Patrol Squad”. (8mr22)

Six years ago, a twenty-year-old woman was murdered by a former American Military base employee. In reaction, the Japanese Government set up  a patrol squad in order to prevent any recurrence of such a crime. However, it reduced next year’s budget for the patrols by about 40% from this year’s level. NHK reporting has learned from the Okinawa Comprehensive Administration Office that the scope of the squad’s duties will be thus decreased.


In April of 2016, a twenty-year-old woman from Uruma was murdered by a former American Military base employee. In response, 2 months later in June, the Japanese Government set up  the “Okinawa Regional Safety Patrol Squad” in order to prevent any recurrence of such crimes.


The budget for the work of the patrol squad this year was 730 million yen. But next year’s budget for it will be only 465 million yen, a cut of about 40%. NHK reporting has learned from the Okinawa Comprehensive Administration Office that the scope of the squad’s duties will be thus decreased.


Concretely, the stance of the patrols will be reassessed. From 7 P.M. to 10 P.M., patrol cars will be reduced from the current 75 to 40. From 11 P.M. to 5 A.M., patrol cars will be reduced from 25 to 15, and patrols will go from once an hour to once every 2 hours.


The Okinawa Comprehensive Administration Office noted, “From our past experience, we reassessed our estimates of whether the efficiency of our duties could be improved. We analyzed the time and location of our reports to the police. Depending on the time frame, our patrols will change location to places where crimes are most likely to occur.”


However, from the time patrols started to the end of January this year, 1844 incidents had been reported. Among them, 10 involved American soldiers or others related to the US bases, thus accounting for only 0.5% of the total. 


Original Japanese article: NHK Okinawa News Web, published Tuesday 8 March 2022 at 08:05.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/lnews/okinawa/20220308/5090017557.html


Translator’s note:

Denny in the News: news about Okinawan Governor Denny Tamaki.

Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although Okinawa is important as an international tourist destination and a key element in strategic US Military Forces, its governor receives very little coverage in the Japanese press and almost none in the English language media. 

  1. This blog hopes to  translate one news article a day on the governor.  It is unsponsored and unauthorized. The translator simply hopes to improve his skills and perhaps give the governor an English speaking audience. 

  2. Any suggestion on improving the translation will be gratefully accepted. However, please leave political comments for another forum.

  3. Where they occur, words and phrases in Ryukyuan (the Okinawan language) are rendered in italics and translated in parentheses. Names  whose readings are uncertain are rendered as Name (=Kanji?) as in Nagayuki (=長行?). Any corrections in such instances would be gratefully appreciated.

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