尼崎事件検証 「民事不介入」の意識を改めよ

The Yomiuri Shimbun April 22, 2013
Police must do away with mind-set of nonintervention in civil disputes
尼崎事件検証　「民事不介入」の意識を改めよ（4月21日付・読売社説）

If only there was no chain of negligence by police authorities, a string of murders could have been prevented from cascading into the worst possible outcome.
　警察による「不作為の連鎖」がなければ、最悪の事態を防ぐことができた。

We cannot help but believe this, given that the police responded to these heinous crimes with abyssal sloppiness.
そう思うほかない、ずさんな対応である。

The Kagawa prefectural police announced Friday results of follow-up investigations into the killings of four members of a Takamatsu family in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, acknowledging that the cases were handled "inappropriately."
　兵庫県尼崎市の連続変死事件で、香川県警は、親族４人が死亡した高松市の一家への対応が不適切だったとする検証結果をまとめた。

Miyoko Sumida, the prime suspect in the slayings, hanged herself in her cell in December at age 64. Sumida and her alleged accomplices had wormed their way into the victims' homes from February 2003.
　事件の主犯で、自殺した角田美代子元被告（当時６４歳）らは、２００３年から一家宅に居座った。

Vast negligence

Since that time, a male family member and 16 of his relatives and acquaintances sent reports to and sought help from the prefectural police headquarters and five police stations as many as 36 times, according to the announcement.
それ以降、一家の男性や親族、知人ら計１７人から、香川県警本部と警察５署に、合わせて３６回もの通報や相談が寄せられていた。

However, those pieces of information were not shared among prefectural police authorities. In fact, the police viewed the reports and complaints as concerning separate domestic incidents. As a result, they failed to question Sumida and the others involved even on a voluntary basis.
　ところが、それらの情報は警察内部で共有されなかった。それどころか、別個の家族間トラブルと認識されていた。角田元被告らの事情聴取も行わなかった。

It is only natural for the prefectural police to apologize to survivors of the deceased and others concerned over a string of blunders in the murder cases.
　一連の不手際について、県警が遺族らに謝罪したのは当然だ。

That the police refused to accept a damage report that the male member of the victimized family tried to file is also troubling. According to the announcement, the police failed to act on the reports of violence and harm because they "contained no exact dates or locations, and so could not be investigated as criminal cases."
　男性が被害届を提出しようとしたのに、県警が受理しなかったのも問題である。「暴行や傷害の日時や場所が不明なので、立件できない」との理由からだった。

The police showed outright negligence in the course of their duties. They need to keep in mind the need to adequately assess and respond whenever there arises the possibility that citizens' lives may be in danger or at risk of physical harm.
　怠慢以外の何ものでもない。警察は、住民の生命、身体に危害が及ぶ恐れを常に考慮し、対応に当たらねばならない。

The way the Hyogo prefectural police handled the series of murders suspected to have been masterminded by Sumida must never be overlooked.
　兵庫県警の対応も看過できない。

When the first daughter of the man of the victimized family was taken to Amagasaki from Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, an acquaintance of the family who witnessed the abduction by a group led by Sumida turned to the police for help. However, they did nothing to resolve the matter, on the grounds that the incident was considered "domestic trouble." The daughter subsequently is believed to have been killed by Sumida and her cohorts.
一家の男性の長女が明石市内から尼崎市内に連れ去られた際、目撃した友人が警察に相談したが、警察は「家族のもめ事」として放置した。長女はその後、角田元被告らに殺害されたという。

Underlying the behavior of the two prefectural police headquarters must be the idea of "noninterference by police in civil matters." This mind-set that disputes between individuals should be settled either by the parties involved or by the courts has firmly taken root among police officers.
　両県警の対応の根底にあるのは「民事不介入」の意識だろう。警察には、「私人間の紛争は、当事者同士か裁判所で決着すべきだ」という考えが根強くある。

Certainly, the police can hardly be expected to respond to every little civil disturbance due to limited manpower. If police wielded their power arbitrarily, they would run the risk of aggravating such disputes.
　確かに、民事上のささいな事案に警察が乗り出すのは、人員面などから無理がある。いたずらに警察権力を行使すれば、かえって紛争をこじらせることもあろう。

However, lessons from the past must not be forgotten in this connection.
　だが、過去の教訓を忘れてはならない。

The murder of a woman by her stalker in Okegawa, Saitama Prefecture, in 1999 took place primarily as a result of the police's failure to launch an investigation on the basis of "nonintervention in civil matters."
１９９９年の埼玉県桶川市のストーカー殺人事件は、警察が「民事不介入」を口実にして、捜査を怠ったために起きた。

Change modus operandi

In the wake of this case, a council on police reform set up by the National Public Security Commission compiled an emergency proposal calling for eliminating "a misconceived notion of noninterference in civil matters." Unfortunately, this mode of thinking has persisted among police officers, who hold the key to change.
　この事件を契機に、国家公安委員会が設置した警察刷新会議は、「民事不介入についての誤った認識を払拭する」という緊急提言をまとめたが、最も肝心な警察官の意識改革が進んでいない。

Not only stalking cases but also those involving domestic violence and disputes between neighbors have been on the rise. The number of cases in which people seek police assistance over disputes has also been increasing.
　ストーカーだけでなく、家庭内暴力や近隣トラブルなどを巡る事件が増えている。警察への相談件数も、増加傾向にある。

The police force as a whole must change its ingrained mode of thinking that is based on noninterference in civil matters to nip potentially criminal cases in the bud.
　警察全体が民事不介入に対する認識を改め、事件の芽を摘んでいくことが重要だ。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, April 21, 2013)
（2013年4月21日01時13分  読売新聞）