Disbanding Ceremony Held for Osaka Expo Police Squad

Osaka, Oct. 27 (Jiji Press)–A ceremony to mark the disbanding of a police squad assigned to the venue of the 2025 World Exposition in the western Japan city of Osaka was held at the Osaka prefectural police headquarters Monday. Tsuyoshi Iwashita, head of the Osaka police department, praised the squad of some 250 members who were tasked with initial incident responses and patrolling at the event, which ended on Oct. 13 after 184 days. “I want to express my heartfelt respect and gratitude for your efforts,” Iwashita said. He added that the members are expected to play a “booster” role after returning to their respective workplaces. Daisuke Nanba, who led the squad, vowed that the members will share their knowledge, experience and records of activities from the Osaka Expo job with future generations. According to the prefectural police, the squad handled 2,864 incidents at the Expo venue, including 979 crime-related cases. Of the cases, some 75 pct were responses to individuals carrying weapons such as knives and other dangerous objects when entering the venue. There were also 10 cases involving arrests for misconduct such as theft, secret filming, and attacking venue workers. The police squad also handled 467 cases of conflict between visitors, 435 traffic accidents, 394 cases of protecting stray children and others, and 589 other cases such as those involving noise. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]