A kōban (
Japanese: 交番) is a small neighborhood
police station found in
Japan. The term also refers to the smallest organizational unit in a modern
JapanesePrefectural police department.[1] Small kōban buildings, staffed by uniformed officers at around 6,000 locations all over the country,[2] are the bases for
community policing activities which complement the work of larger, central police stations. Although often translated into English as "police box",[3]kōban bear little resemblance to the
police boxes formerly found in the
UK or the
police call boxes formerly found in the
US, as they are larger and more permanent structures than both police boxes and call boxes.
Overview
A kōban is typically a one- or two-story building with a couple of rooms (although there is wide variation), staffed by a few police officers belonging to the community police affairs section (地域課, chiiki-ka) of a
police station (警察署, Keisatsu-sho).[4][5] Many kōban have signs reading KOBAN in
Latin script.[6][7]
Services provided
Police officers stationed at kōban serve several roles:[citation needed]
Maps and directions – providing maps and directions to local addresses. Additionally, officers can refer people to local hotels, restaurants, and other businesses.
Lost and found – accepting reports of lost items and accepting found items from members of the public and, if a matching lost item is turned in, notifying the owner of the item to come pick up the item.
The name kōban derives from the name of the earliest structure built in 1874, which were simple boxes meant for standing watch (立番, tachiban) in rotation (交替, kōtai), thus creating a compound word consisting of kō (交) and ban (番).[8] Soon after, in 1881, kōban were transformed into local community stations with as many as six officers and a new official name hashutsujo (派出所, "local police station") was given to it — although its common name, "kōban" survived.
"Kōban" was further systematized and spread out nationwide, playing an important role in the Japanese police system over decades. In 1994, the official name hashutsujo was changed back to kōban.
In 2019, the NPA ordered a risk assessment following a series of attacks on kōban officers. In one case in 2019, a lone officer stationed inside a kōban in
Suita was attacked and his
sidearm stolen.[10][11][12]
^Toyozaki, Yoko; Stuart Varnam-Atkin (2008).
日本風物詩 [Are Japanese Cats Left-handed?]. Translated by Sawada Gumi. IBC Publishing. pp. 19–21.
ISBN978-4-89684-581-5.