'Bored' Japan police officer warned for bringing game console to detention facility

KOBE -- A police sergeant in west Japan has been warned for bringing a handheld game console into a detention facility, the Mainichi Shimbun learned on Jan. 27 through a freedom of information request to Hyogo Prefectural Police and other sources.

The chief of the police affairs department gave a warning dated Dec. 22, 2022, to the sergeant in his 40s who works at a police station in Hyogo Prefecture's Awaji area. The officer was quoted as explaining, "I was bored because there were few detainees."

According to the prefectural police's inspection office, a duty supervisor making the rounds noticed the sergeant at the police station's detention facility holding a PlayStation Vita game console at around 11:40 p.m. on Nov. 24, 2022. Since around 11 p.m., he had been falling asleep at a monitoring table and using the game console, and had failed to complete his five rounds at the facility as stipulated by internal rules.

The officer had also been watching a TV program saved on the game console for about an hour during his duties on Nov. 9 and roughly another hour during a break on Nov. 24.

(Japanese original by Shohei Miyamoto, Kobe Bureau)