Saitama Police train for Sagamihara-like knife attack

From The Saitama Shimbun via Yahoo! Japan

October 18 2021

SAITAMA – On October 15th, a training for suspicious persons was held at Tamonji, Kazo City, Saitama Prefecture, at the “Group Home Tsukushimbo”, a communal living support facility for persons with disabilities, with the cooperation of the Kazo Police Station. They learned from the how to respond when a suspicious person invades and how to have a sense of crisis.

The training was conducted based on the lessons learned from a murder at a facility for the disabled in Sagamihara City in July 2019. Five staff members from the Life Safety Division and the Regional Division of the same department participated. One of the officers dressed as a suspicious person and “invaded” by holding an imitation knife.

The staff calmly responded to the role of the criminal holding the knife, saying, “You should have an older brother here. Let me see you.” Another staff member immediately called 110. A police car arrived about 3 minutes after the report. The criminal was arrested.

It was a total of about 10 minutes of training, but even though it was training, there was a sense of tension. Ms. Mieko Kudo, the manager, said, “I was nervous. I felt (training) for a long time. I need to be prepared for how to deal with suspicious people.”

Mr. Katsunori Isokawa, Chief of the Life Safety Division, made a comment. “I was dealing well with the criminal,” he said. “If possible, it is desirable to deal with multiple people. It is dangerous because I was close to the criminal. It is important to keep an eye on the criminal.”