The Taming of the Japanese Private Security Industry

Abstract

With the number of crimes climbing to over 2.5 million per annum and a 50% surge in the number of juvenile crimes, Japan is no longer a society secure in the knowledge that it is immune to crime rate inflation. One consequence of this is that the private security industry is increasingly gaining social recognition in Japan. However, the Japanese seem to retain high levels of confidence in the police and voices demanding ‘open police’ remain muted. The Japanese police has established itself as the supervisor of the private security industry. This paper sets out to answer a number of questions. How has this partnership between public and private police evolved? What is the constitutional position of the private security industry in Japan? And what is the long‐term strategy of the Japanese police with regard to the emergence of private security provision?