減る交番、駐在の数、失われゆく地域の安心感　　　　　　　気ままなリライト138

交番・駐在所、4割減も　頼りはロボ警官？　住民の不安増　ワゴン車や遠隔で接点維持 - 日本経済新聞

The role of Japan's kobans, the quaint neighborhood police stations integral to local safety and trust, has been undergoing a necessary reassessment. Cherished for their historic and emotional role in strengthening ties between the community and police, those stations, whether residential or non-residential, are facing pressures to adapt to the evolving dynamics of modern communities. While the traditional koban model has been a vital hub, societal and cultural shifts are increasingly making it challenging to maintain a visible police presence as the status quo.

The historic value of kobans, traditionally central to fostering the sense of peace in close-knit communities, has waned as modern residents' attitudes toward public policing have evolved. Once integral to communal life, the shift toward individualism has led to decreased reliance on small neighborhood police stations, resulting in a 4.8% reduction in the number of non-residential ones, and a 23.5 % decrease in residential ones across Japan from 2003 to 2023. Additionally, the rise of social media and community apps has diminished the necessity for direct interactions with police officers at kobans. If this declining trend persists, it is projected that only 60 % of both residential and non-residential police stations will remain operational by 2050, compared with that in 2003.

Besides changes in contemporary community structures and lifestyles, the optimization of resource allocation driven by demographic shifts, such as a growing aging population, has led to the decline in the number of kobans. With decreasing populations, particularly in rural areas, the demand for numerous kobans has lessened. Budget constraints and the high costs of renovating aging kobans in areas with dwindling populations have prompted the National Police Agency to centralize resources in larger, more versatile police stations, rather than maintaining a widespread network of smaller kobans. This centralization is aiming to streamline operations and improve efficiency. Furthermore, the aging population is resulting in fewer working-age individuals, including potential police officers, contributing to staffing shortages at kobans. The need to maintain an extensive network of kobans, particularly in areas with low-risk, has been reevaluated in light of a 70 % reduction in overall crime rates from 2003 to 2023.

To restore the image of officers at kobans as helpful community members rather than mere law enforcers, police authorities have struggled to balance new community priorities with the emotional bonds that traditional kobans have built with communities. In response to thconcerns from local residents about their children's safety following the closure of a residential police substation in a town of Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, the prefectural police department has committed to persuading those anxious residents to accept a beefed-up patrolling plan that compensates for the closed substation remaining as a liaison after being integrated into another koban. Meanwhile, the National Police Agency is exploring how kobans or residential police substations are utilized as pivotal local safety centers in an era when fewer officers are deployed physically for direct street crime prevention, due to the rising incidence of cybercrimes and online fraud.

The sense of safety provided by the visible presence of kobans is not necessarily linked to their actual effectiveness in crime prevention. Rather, the perceived effectiveness, bolstered by police efforts to strengthen emotional connections with the community, plays a critical role in fostering the sense of safety. Recognizing this, the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Department is adapting to an integration strategy that will see about 70 kobans phased out by fiscal 2029. To mitigate the impact in the areas losing static kobans, the department plans to introduce 30 mobile kobans, where officers will operate from station wagons. Those mobile units, aimed at providing wider coverage and greater mobility, are designed to enhance interactions between police officers and local residents, swiftly addressing both criminal and non-criminal concerns.

How far the deployment of cutting-edge technologies goes in law enforcement has posed a contentious challenge, particularly in Japan, where the ethos of community policing through human officers at kobans is deeply ingrained in the social fabric. Those officers are seen not just as authority figures but as compassionate, comforting presences akin to good Samaritans within their communities. By contrast, the concept of technological deployment focused on relentless surveillance represents a stark departure from this human-centric approach. This difference was underscored by the strong opposition to the closure of a small residential police substation in the above-mentioned town of Sendai City, where 4,845 residents campaigned to oppose the loss of a humane observing eye, highlighting the irreplaceable value of human officers. This raises a poignant question, if a AI-assisted robocop were to replace a human officer at the police substation, could it ever reduce the anxiety of protesting local residents who cherish the personal connection and reassurance provided by human police presence?