Hokkaido police officer leaves gun in convenience store

was heading to work in plain clothes when he used the convenience store’s toilet at around 10:20 a.m. on Monday, Kyodo News reported.

Must be a nice morning glory in that convenience store, feels really good with air conditioning during this summer inside convenience store. So it make sense he forgot his holster.

Plain-clothes cops can use convenience stores but not those in uniforms.

He felt much lighter after using the toilet.

No real need for Japanese cops to be carrying guns as standard procedure. It's a legacy of the US Occupation and the high crime rate in the late 1940s.

Was it cocked?

this isn't the first time this has happened.

And in other news...

Man stabs, slashes 2 workers at Tokyo convenience store, flees scene

anyway, glad this happened in Hokkaido and not in Tokyo where THIS happened. If THAT guy had found a gun things could have been ALOT worse.

A police officer left his loaded handgun at a convenience store in Ashikawa City

Asahikawa, not Ashikawa.

Excellent work on the policeman doe noticing in just 35 minutes. His quick thinking surely saved lives. All lives matter, after all. Hopefully, IA takes it easy on the absent minded fellow. He probably just had a lot on his mind, thinking about protecting and serving the people of Japan.

Hay, you know-what-happens, and in this case, that is exactly right.

Ever try the above mentioned activity with a side arm attached to your pants?

Not practical. Just Bow, and get on with life.

Another headline from elsewhere on JT:

Man stabs, slashes 2 workers at Tokyo convenience store, flees scene

imagine if this had happened at the Tokyo convenience store and an astute customer found the gun with just the right timing. The whole thing could have been prevented.

Good thing the gun didn’t get into the wrong hands.

Seems like it was already in the wrong irresponsible hands. What if a child had gone in after him?

After noticing that his firearm was missing about 35 minutes later, the sergeant contacted the store and went back to retrieve the handgun. No bullets were missing. The staff reportedly told the police they were unaware that the holster contained a handgun.

LOL this is so Japan. Cope leaves gun with bullets in Convenience Store toilet. Takes 35 minutes to realize he didn't have his gun. The gun in holster was still there. Convenience store staff did not recognize that it was a gun holster. Jeeeeezzzz....

The thousandth article outlining how pathetic J cops are.

Thirty-five minutes is more than half an hour : a looooooooolong time!

And he did not notice his gun was missing?

This shows this officer is not a good police officer and should be sacked. Because someone could have picked up the loaded gun and killed himself or killed some person or killed some people.

Had he noticed it very soon after he left the toilet he is a good officer and should remain a police officer. Japan Police need only good officers.

“No real need for Japanese cops to be carrying guns as standard procedure”

Oh boy another unbelievable statement. You clearly don’t live here, very single day there are murders going on here in Japan and mainly by knives.

The bad guys you know the Yaks have guns, they use those guns. Sorry but the Japanese police need their guns.

I feel safer as I’m sure many others do if the police have guns.

Again?

Why is he carrying a gun in the first place? Like hanging people, is this meant to be a deterrent? Because neither work. Has a J copper fired a gun this millenium?

What shocks me the most is the age of the cop and the fact that he's a 'sergeant'. That rank comes with a lot of responsibility, at least in my country. The young fool should be demoted or dismissed. Not realizing your gun isn't on your hip for 35 minutes is beyond the pale.

What shocks me the most is the age of the cop and the fact that he's a 'sergeant'.

巡査部長 is the second lowest rank in Japan.

 We will provide thorough instructions to our personnel to prevent a reoccurrence.

Gosh, that makes me feel a whole lot better.

This is at least the 4th time this has been reported in the the last 5 years.n

How many other incidents have there been

Hey, conveniently at hand, and hanging in a convenience store are easily confused concepts. He probably misremembered which was the actual regulation.

The staff reportedly told the police they were unaware that the holster contained a handgun.

Er, what exactly did they think was in the holster then? Flowers? Japan should just join the list of countries that don't carry guns; it's not like they need them when stopping (non-Japanese) cyclists and passersby.

Excellent work on the policeman doe noticing in just 35 minutes. His quick thinking surely saved lives. All lives matter, after all. Hopefully, IA takes it easy on the absent minded fellow. He probably just had a lot on his mind, thinking about protecting and serving the people of Japan.

HAHAHAHA! Good one Marc! Really good! Brilliant mate!