Japanese government aims to streamline Blue Patrol program by mobilizing 3,600 taxis in Okinawa for crime prevention next year
A Blue Patrol car dispatched by the Okinawa general executive office (file photo).
March 4, 2022 Ryukyu Shimpo
By Yosuke Anri
Tokyo – Japan’s cabinet office announced March 3 that they would be proceeding with the introduction of crime prevention duties for taxis in Okinawa as part of the “Okinawa Regional Safety Patrol Corps” (often referred to as the Blue Patrol) program, which began as part of the policies aimed at preventing incidents involving members of the U.S. military after a woman was raped and murdered in 2016. Since the implementation of the system in June of 2016, there have been no more than 10 reported incidents involving people associated with the U.S. military bases.
This was in response to Kunio Arakaki (Social Democratic Party) in the House of Representatives special committee on Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs.
According to the cabinet office, the duties that will be given to the fleet of taxis will consist of steps to report any incidents they encounter to law enforcement using a computer system that will be installed in Okinawan taxis. A pilot project for this has been underway since 2018, and the plan is to roll this out to the 3,600 taxis in operation in Okinawa over the course of 2022.
Hiroaki Hara, the minister in charge of implementing the policy, commented, “in the six years since establishing the policy, we have accumulated a measure of expertise. We are planning on a more efficient running of the operation for the future.”
Arakaki said that, “there were some voicing concerns about cost-effectiveness,” and asked for a report on the number of incidents related to the U.S. military. Arakaki indicated that there was a cumulative total of 1,844 reported incidents, and that only 10 of these were related to the U.S. military.
(English translation by T&CT and Sam Grieb)
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