Kyoto Police Officer arrested on suspicion of theft during investigation, suspected of stealing from the home of an elderly person with dementia

Extract From NHK

November 16 2023

KYOTO – A Kyoto Prefectural Police Officer, who was arrested for stealing cash from the scene of an investigation, told police that he had visited other homes of elderly people with dementia under the guise of crime prevention guidance and stole cash, according to interviews with investigators.

It is suspected that the financial institution misused the information it provided to the police to prevent damage from special fraud, and the amount of damage is estimated to exceed 10 million yen.

The suspect, an officer, aged 57, in the Investigation Section 2 of the Kyoto Prefectural Police Headquarters, was arrested on suspicion of theft on November 16th for stealing approximately 100,000 yen in cash and other items when he visited the home of a deceased person four years ago when he was working at the Fushimi Police Station to investigate whether a body was found in Kyoto City.

The deceased’s family and fellow police officers were present at the scene at the time, but were unaware of the officer’s actions.

The officer has confessed to the charges.

The police are investigating whether there are any additional crimes, but in an interview with an investigator, it was learned that he had explained to the investigator that he had visited the home of an elderly dementia patient in the name of providing crime prevention guidance, and had stolen cash.

According to investigators, the amount of damage is estimated to be over 10 million yen, some of which has already been backdated.

The police are investigating the case on suspicion of repeated thefts by misusing information obtained in the course of business.

According to investigators, the officer had been repeatedly transferred between police stations and police headquarters, and had been in charge of investigating mainly intelligence crimes such as fraud.