Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–The Kanagawa prefectural police in eastern Japan are believed to have inappropriately used information from expired driver’s licenses collected from citizens at the time of renewal for over 30 years, according to the National Police Agency. Improper use of information from driver’s licenses may constitute a violation of the personal information protection law. The NPA has instructed the prefectural police to confirm the facts in full detail and has set up a team to start nationwide investigations. “It’s only natural to comply with laws and regulations in police activities. We take the acts of the Kanagawa prefectural police seriously because they should not have happened,” NPA Commissioner-General Yoshinobu Kusunoki said as he apologized at a regular press conference Thursday. The Kanagawa police will erase all inappropriately obtained information and implement measures to prevent recurrence such as a change in the way their security division collects information, Kusunoki added. According to NPA and other sources, a senior police officer of the security department of the Hodogaya police station in the prefectural capital of Yokohama was found to have taken out expired driver’s licenses. The officer in his 20s left his backpack containing 31 old driver’s licenses at a train station in August, and a station staff member reported to police. The officer received the old licenses from traffic department staff of the Kohoku police station, where he worked until March. At the Kohoku station, also in Yokohama, all licenses that the traffic department collected from citizens during the license renewal procedure had been given to the security department. The security department used photographs and information from the licenses to make investigation files about those under police surveillance and others. The information was shared with the Kanagawa police headquarters. Kanagawa police investigations of senior police members have found that old licenses had been handled in similar ways at some police stations other than Kohoku. Some members said that the inappropriate practice had continued at least since the 1990s. The personal information protection law permits police to obtain data from expired driver’s licenses when there are “reasonable grounds” for the use of such data, including for the purposes of preventing terrorism and conducting investigations. But in this case, all expired licenses including those of citizens irrelevant to such purposes had been handled inappropriately. The NPA said this case is likely to constitute illegal use of personal information for unauthorized purposes. At the Kanagawa police, all data believed to have been taken from expired licenses will be deleted. Any other personal information that cannot be proved to have been collected appropriately will also be removed, including those obtained in the past. The NPA will notify all police departments across the country of driver’s license renewal procedures to ensure in principle that old licenses are punched and returned to the citizens or immediately disposed of if the licenses cannot be returned. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
