Don't Let Stalkers Claim Even One More Victim

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The 20-year-old woman repeatedly reported to the police that her life was in imminent danger. Could she not have been saved in time? How can we prevent stalkers from committing such a tragedy again?

This horrifying incident, which ended in a tragic outcome, must be thoroughly investigated.

Asahi Okazaki, a resident of Kawasaki City in Kanagawa Prefecture, went missing on December 20, 2024. However, it took more than four months for her body to be found buried under floorboards at the home of her ex-boyfriend, Hideyuki Shirai. He has since been indicted on suspicion of abandoning a body.

Ms Okazaki had reached out to the Kanagawa Prefectural Police on multiple occasions to report the suspect's violence towards her. She described to them his repeated stalking of her. And shortly before her disappearance, she complained she was scared because the suspect was lurking near her home.

The worst outcome might have been avoided if strong measures had been taken under the Anti-Stalking Act. However, the police did not recognize that Okazaki was the victim of a stalker before events reached that point. The reason, they said, was that the "victim did not want them to do so."

Eventually, her body was discovered during a search related to the suspected violation of the law. According to the police, that was because the "suspect's testimony made it possible to establish evidence constituting a crime" after Okazaki went missing.

Doing Things Differently

Considering the enormous consequences, these excuses appear feeble at best.

The Anti-Stalking Act became law in 2000. It was introduced by a Diet member in response to the "Okegawa Stalker Murder Case" of 1999. The law creates an exception to the principle that criminal investigations should not impinge on civil matters by allowing police to intervene before a situation becomes serious.

*Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters*

In other words, this law is intended to ensure that victims stay alive. Therefore, waiting to determine whether a crime has been committed after the fact does not align with the intent of the law.

Even after the Anti-Stalker Act took effect, it has been revised repeatedly in response to major incident after major incident. In 2016, the offense was changed from a crime requiring a complaint to a crime not requiring a complaint. Subsequently, in 2021, the definition of stalking was expanded to include keeping a watch on the location where the victim was physically located. However, without proper implementation, these legal reforms cannot be effective.

No More Excuses

The Kanagawa Prefecture Police have said, "Our investigation will clarify everything about the incident and identify areas for improvement." The results of that investigation should be released in detail to the public so that the public can understand the lessons learned and where the police failed.

In cases of stalking involving couples with romantic feelings, the emotions of the individuals involved can fluctuate widely. Also, privacy issues are involved, which makes timely intervention more complicated. Even so, we hope that the police will respond more diligently.

This view is also shared by the father whose eldest daughter died in the 1999 Okegawa incident. In response to Asahi Okazaki's death in the Kawasaki incident, he said: "I want members of the police station where the victim sought help to think again about whether the way they respond recalls their mission to protect the lives of citizens."

Those are words that the police should take as their starting point.