Kazumi Ogasawara, Senior Superintendent, Director of Police Administration of Fukushima Prefectural Police Headquarters

Kazumi Ogasawara,
Senior Superintendent, Director of Police Administration of Fukushima Prefectural Police Headquarters

Born in Morioka City of Iwate Prefecture in 1971. Entered Keio University as the first students of the Faculty of Policy Management, and graduated in 1994. Passed the examination for first-class civil and joined the National Police Agency in the same year. Starting career working at a police box, has also served as a detective and professor of the National Police Academy. After studying abroad in New York and having been transferred to the Cabinet Office, Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and etc., became Director of Police Administration of Fukushima Prefectural Police in April 2011.

─ In April 2011, Ms. Kazumi Ogasawara became the Director of Police Administration of Fukushima Prefectural Police Headquarters. Her present rank is senior superintendent, and Director of Police Administration of a prefectural police is the second-highest post next to the Chief.

The Great East Japan Earthquake killed 1604 people in Fukushima Prefecture, and 231 are still missing (as of November 3, 2011, according to Fukushima Prefectural Police). Four police officers died and one officer is still missing.

At the Fukushima Prefectural Police, we are continuously working hard to find as many missing people as possible to return them to their families. And for those who have no choice but to evacuate far away from the evacuation zone around the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, we keep protecting their properties and public security of the area until the day they can come back home.

Under the Police Administration Department, there are various divisions such as Police Administration Division, General Affairs Division, Finance Division, Welfare Division, and Resident Service Division to serve for victim support and etc. My job as the Director of Police Administration is to create an environment so that about 3700 police officers and staffs can fully work for the citizens. Especially under difficult circumstances after the earthquake, I pay extra attention to health management of police officers who are engaged in searching, patrolling, investigating and controlling in the disaster-affected areas.

─ Ms. Ogasawara, you are a so-called “career” civil servant, as you joined the National Police Agency after passing the examination for first-class civil. I hear that only few women who have passed the examination for first-class civil are recruited to the National Police Agency.

The National Police Agency, which was cautious about recruiting women, recruited the first woman who passed the examination for first-class civil in 1989. I was recruited in 1994, and was only the sixth woman. However, 43 women have been recruited up till now, and as for 2011, 12 men and 5 women were recruited, so the ratio of women is rising gradually. I think the tendency to recruit more women will keep growing.

─ Even though there are more women in the Agency, we have a strong image that the “police is a man’s world”, so I am curious about after joining the Agency.

Well, surprisingly, there really isn’t a difference between men and women. After joining the Agency, everyone starts as assistant police inspector, and while gaining all kinds of experience, we move up our ranks to police inspector, and then to superintendent. Presently, my rank is senior superintendent, and I’m moving up through the ranks at the same pace as men who joined the Agency in the same year.

Also, you may worry that it may be physically tough for women, but from my experience, I feel that the difference in physical strength is caused by individual differences rather than the sexual difference. Immediately after joining the Agency, there is a three month training for arresting techniques, shooting and either judo or kendo at the National Police Academy, as well as learning about the Code of Criminal Procedure, how to make documents on investigations, and police manners. There is also a tough training where you have to run around the field many times wearing full gear of riot police and holding a shield. Since I’m short, only the top of my helmet was shown behind my shield (laughs), but I was able to run till the end while there were men who were worn out in the middle.

─ So I see that endurance is important. By the way, it is surprising that you go training at the National Police Academy after joining the Agency and not at Kasumigaseki.

For three months, we would study and train day in and day out. After that, to experience the field, we are transferred to police stations of prefectural polices where incident rates are high. I was assigned to Ikuta Police Station of Hyogo Prefectural Police. After working at the police box, I experienced the First Criminal Investigation Section, Second Criminal Investigation Section and Japanese Organized Crime Section, and just before being transferred to the Second Organized Crime Division of the prefectural police headquarters, I experienced the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.

The dormitory where I used to live was OK, but the first floor of Hyogo police station on the same premise was crushed. Though inexperienced, I am still a police officer, so I immediately changed to riot gear to check on the damage of the area, and engaged in rescue operations. With the help of residents, I helped a person out from under a chest, guided a blind person through an area where fire burst from houses here and there, and I just worked feverishly.

The hard thing was to do autopsy at a high school gymnasium in Nagata-ku that was used as a morgue. I remember when a parent collapsed into tears in front of a dead child, not only myself but the strong and tough detectives also filled their eyes with tears.


─ The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake occurred on January 17 of 1995. I think this was a tough experience for a first year police officer. But I see that field experience is important for a police officer.

Yes, the police cannot exist without the field. Later on, I experienced organized crime control and control over corruption and intellectual crime at the Tochigi Prefectural Police, and at the Osaka Prefectural Police, I was involved in foreign affairs, watching out for spies and illegal immigrants. When I was visiting government offices after passing the exam, I was told that the National Police Agency gives you ample field experience, so when your ranks get higher and you have to decide on a policy or make plans, you can make workable plans without ending up with a desk plan because you know about the field, and I feel this is true. I am sure that field experience at prefectural polices and local police stations will have a meaning for my future work.

I was also sent to the U.S. for a year to study criminology at Columbia University and obtained a master’s degree. I learned many things while studying abroad, having done research on measures against domestic violence and victim support, and having interviewed FBI Agents in important posts. The thing that impressed me was that the police worked in cooperation with NGOs and people in the academic field such as university professors to work on crime prevention and victim support. Those days were busy, but I did volunteer work for victim support and made time to enjoy Broadway musicals such as “Les Miserables”.

I also served as professor at the National Police Academy and was temporally transferred to the Cabinet Office to coordinate among ministries and deal with the Diet on gender equality. I was also temporally transferred to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and visited nuclear power plants throughout the country in order to make a law to strengthen counterterrorism measures for nuclear power plants.

─ That experience working at the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency may be one reason you were appointed Director of Police Administration of Fukushima Prefectural Police.

That may be so. In order to maintain public security, police officers not only stand at the checkpoint going into the evacuation zone but also go within the evacuation zone to patrol the area and to question suspicious individuals. For that, we need correct information on radiation and protection measures, so right after the explosion at the power station, I asked a professor emeritus of a university whom I knew to give a lecture at the Fukushima Prefectural Police because he is an authority on disaster prevention on nuclear power.


─ I heard that you’re also putting in a lot of effort into support of sexual crime victims.

I have given lectures at universities including Keio and many other places on the theme of “Reality of sexual violence and victim support”. Very few people consult with the police about sexual crimes. Many victims can’t discuss it with anyone, and they blame and hurt themselves. However, to force sexual activities against the other person’s will are considered violence. In the lectures, I explain about misunderstandings and prejudice on sexual violence, and that there are all kinds of support for the victims, such as a system which the police covers medical expenses due to the incident. Now that I am getting to be in a position to formulate measures, working to take measures against sexual crimes seems to have become my lifework.


─ I guess your days are busy and tense, how do you refresh yourself?

Fukushima is surrounded by beautiful nature. On my days off, I try to go out somewhere, sometimes to an onsen (hot-spring) with friends from university to get refreshed. I hope Keio students and graduates would come to Fukushima for sightseeing.

─ Now, please tell us about your life at Keio University. You are one of the first students of the Faculty of Policy Management.

Yes, the school buildings were all new, but they were sparsely scarce (laughs). When I entered university, the media center and gymnasium weren’t built yet, and as the years proceeded, new buildings were built.

My understanding was that Keio, which has contributed highly in nurturing leaders in the economic field, established SFC to nurture leaders in the nonprofit field and public administration. Since I wanted to do a job that would help other people rather than work for a private company, it was the most suitable place for me to study, and I spent four fulfilling years.

The disappointing thing was that there were no senior students. Since I have seen my father, a graduate of Keio University, value and enjoy connections with other Keio graduates regardless of age, I wanted to get to know senior students, so I joined a tennis circle in Hiyoshi Campus called S.L.C..

I was lured into this circle with a soft image of “Keio’s tennis circle”, but practice was really tough. Particularly, the third year level students who manage the circle would never even show a smile, and they train the first year level students with a stern look. Not only in the court, they always wore iron masks (laughs). Instead, second year level and fourth year level students were nice. Later on, I found out that it was the circle’s tradition for third year level students to be strict in training the first year level students, but in the beginning, we were really scared (laughs).

It was a strong team, but as for myself, I never really performed well. Still, those memories and friends are everlasting.


─ Which classes stand out in your memory?

I can’t forget the lecture on Soseki Natsume by Prof. Jun Eto (deceased). His recital of Soseki’s works such as Yume Ju-ya (“Ten Nights of Dreams”) was so moving as his voice was just magnificent with a deepness that sinks into your heart. I wasn’t into literature much, but in this class I found the beauty of the Japanese language for the first time. I strongly remember we were given an assignment to choose an article or advertisement from a copy of Asahi Shimbun of the Meiji era in which Soseki’s novel appeared, and to analyze it.

Also, there are unforgettable words by Prof. Hiroshi Kato (presently Professor Emeritus), who was Dean at the time, such as “You are students who can shape the future. Study so that you can open the way to the future”, and “it is more important to find a problem than to solve a problem”. I surely believe that being trained at SFC to gain problem-finding skills has become the basis of myself today, caring more about “what I should do” rather than about job titles. After being unofficially accepted to the National Police Agency, I did a study on a Japanese kidnapping incident to write a report on “risk management of multinational corporations” for my seminar class. I realized that “even if a country is economically rich, the people are not happy if it is crime-infested”. I started to feel that “public security is the ultimate welfare”, and felt more motivated for the job as a police officer.


─ Before we finish, could you please give a message to Keio students?

While enjoying activities at the tennis circle, I also studied at another school for the bar exam. At tennis I was just an ordinary member, and studying for the bar exam changed course along the way, but there is a sense of fulfillment that I did all the things I wanted to do in my college days, and every one of these experiences help in life that follows. I hope Keio students would take the challenge in all kinds of things.

─ Thank you very much.