Police admit to underestimating stalking threats in murder near Tokyo, and they deeply apologize

YOKOHAMA – Police admitted Thursday that they underestimated the urgency of stalking incidents that preceded the murder of a 20-year-old woman near Tokyo and failed to take sufficient measures to protect her.

The findings by the Kanagawa prefectural police were released following an internal probe into its responses to stalking and other incidents reported to them by Asahi Okazaki in the months leading up to her death. Her former boyfriend has been indicted for murder.

"We deeply apologize for our inappropriate handling of consultations from the woman and her family," Kaoru Wada, chief of the prefectural police, told a press conference. He said he has also apologized directly to the victim's family.

The prefectural police and the National Policy Agency said they have punished 43 officials, including Wada and the head of a local police station in Kawasaki, who were involved in the handling of the case.

The body of Okazaki was found in April at the home of Hideyuki Shirai, 28, in Kawasaki, after she went missing last December. Shirai has been arrested and indicted on suspicion of murder and violating the anti-stalking act.

According to the internal probe, Okazaki reported to a local police station in Kawasaki in June last year that she had a fight with Shirai, with whom she was then in a relationship. Officers classified it as a domestic violence case but dropped the matter after learning the relationship had ended.

In December, Okazaki went missing after reporting to the local police nine times that she was frightened by Shirai hanging around her house.

Local officers who responded underestimated the danger and urgency of the case, failing to recognize it as a stalking case and share the information with the prefectural police headquarters, the report said.

The local police could have warned Shirai based on the anti-stalking act and taken measures to protect Okazaki if they coordinated with the headquarters at an early stage, the report said.

After Okazaki went missing, her family reported the possibility of her having been murdered and sought an urgent investigation, but the local police failed to respond appropriately, even as Shirai admitted having loitered around her house and her smartphone remained switched off.

As part of efforts to prevent a recurrence, the prefectural police will establish a new post at the headquarters to supervise sections handling stalking cases and serious crimes including murders.