Policewoman forgets gun in restroom, continuing an odd trend in Japan

Well, at least she washed her hands, apparently.

Few things in life will shatter your mental focus like really, really badly needing to use the bathroom. However, while the mind may want to stay clouded in blissful relief following a buzzer-beating poo or pee, it’s important to readjust to a sharper state before leaving the restroom, as one Japanese policewoman has been sternly reminded.

Shortly before 1 o’clock in the afternoon on June 19, the 20-something officer, a sergeant with the Shimane Prefectural Police, made a hurried trip to the bathroom. Showing the sort of respect for common decency that any of us would want in our civil servants, the woman apparently washed her hands before leaving the bathroom, but unfortunately left her belt behind on the counter, and even more unfortunately, clipped to the belt was her holster, and in it was her gun.

This isn’t the first time, or even the second time, in recent memory that a police officer in Japan has forgotten their service weapon in a restroom, and it’s perhaps a testament to Japan’s low rates of violent crime that an on-duty officer wouldn’t be immediately aware that they’re not carrying their gun. That said, a pistol on a bathroom counter is definitely going to stand out, and one of the next women to use the bathroom spotted the unattended firearm less than five minutes after the policewoman had used the bathroom. She reported the situation to the police, which didn’t require her to go very far out of her way since the bathroom in question was inside a police station.

One could argue that if you’re going to forget your gun in a bathroom, it’s better to forget it in a police station bathroom than, say, a convenience store or train station bathroom, but since the gun was found by a civilian employee, the restroom doesn’t seem to have been in an extra high-security part of the facility. “I wanted to go to the bathroom, so I was flustered,” said the policewoman when questioned by superiors about what happened, and on September 4 she was issued a formal reprimand for her conduct. Meanwhile, the Shimane Prefectural Police says it is dispatching officials to police facilities to provide operational guidance to prevent such incidents from occurring, though it’s unclear if this will include posting “All employees must wash hands AND take their guns with them before returning to work” signs by the sinks.

Source: Nihonkai TV via Golden Times
Top image: Pakutaso
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