Patrol unit formed after 2016 military incident “doesn’t target specific entity,” government says

Patrol unit formed after 2016 military incident “doesn’t target specific entity,” government says

Okinawa Regional Safety Patrol vehicles, also known as ao-pato, are fitted with blue emergency lights.


March 14, 2020 Ryukyu Shimpo

The Japanese government formed the “Okinawa Regional Safety Patrol”, also known as “ao-pato” (literally: blue patrol), in response to the 2016 incident in which a U.S. military-civilian (a Marine Corps veteran) killed an Okinawan woman.

The aim of the initiative was to prevent further military-related incidents.

However, the Cabinet stated on March 13, “Its objective is to prevent crimes in Okinawa and does not target specific entities.”

The Cabinet’s statement was released in response to questions raised by Diet member Mikio Shimoji.

Approximately 1.905 billion yen was poured into the Okinawa Regional Safety Patrol initiative between 2016 and 2018 to prevent further incidents involving military-civilians, but the government effectively denied the initiative’s original purpose.

According to the statement, the patrol unit received a total of 1,223 calls between fiscal year 2016 and 2018, of which 78.6% were drunk and disorderly cases.

Eight of the calls involved U.S. military and civilian personnel.

Suggestions were made to use the number of calls received by police for statistics, but the Cabinet responded, “It is inappropriate to look at [those] high figures to establish the validity of this initiative.”

(English translation by T&CT and Monica Shingaki)

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