Posted on 02/05/2005 7:12:37 PM PST by Ellesu
FUKUOKA--A police officer of Chikugo Police Station in Fukuoka Prefecture left his fingerprints at the scenes of several crimes he was investigating and collected them as evidence, it was learned Friday.
According to the Fukuoka prefectural police, the police officer in his 30s has denied involvement in any of the burglaries he was investigating and told the police he thought he had to collect evidence that would be useful for the investigations.
As he could not find any evidence of the perpetrators, he said he had no choice but to leave his own fingerprints at the scenes and collect them, he was quoted as saying.
The police station found the same fingerprints at more than 10 homes and offices that had been broken into last year. The police initially suspected the crimes had been committed by the same person.
However, the police thought the cases were strange as burglars usually wear gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints and each time prints were found, the police officer was at the scene.
Prepare for the inevitable comments about said location.
another link:
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20050205p2a00m0dm010000c.html
Cop leaves own prints at crime scenes to prove himself a private dick
FUKUOKA -- A police officer has been removed from his beat after deliberately leaving his own fingerprints at crime scenes to make it appear he was a good detective when he found them and others were left empty handed, police said Saturday.
The senior officer in his 30s has been shunted into a desk job, but has admitted to tampering with evidence at 10 or more locations.
"I was driven by the need to find some sort of evidence at the crime scene that would help solve it, so if there was nothing there, I would leave my own fingerprints, then take them as though they had been left by the criminal. I did it to get a better investigation record and work evaluation," the officer, who police refuse to name, told investigators.
Fukuoka Prefectural Police were tight-lipped about the case.
"We're still checking all the facts," an inspection department spokesman said. "If the results of the investigation deem it worthy, we will treat the matter with all strictness."
Police said they had been given fingerprints left by the same person at a series of crime scenes over the past two years. They believed they were looking for a burglar.
However, they realized something fishy was going on for a number of reasons, including:
BURGLARS nearly always wear gloves during break-ins and it is extremely rare to find fingerprints; and
FINGERPRINTS collected from the crime scene had always been collected by the same officer, who, as it turned out, had been the one leaving them there.
As the officer had not been to the scene of any of the crimes before he went there to investigate them, he has been ruled out as the actual perpetrator. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, Feb. 5, 2005)
"As he could not find any evidence of the perpetrators, he said he had no choice but to leave his own fingerprints "
LoL. Well, he had to collect Something!
"Prepare for the inevitable comments about said location."
LOL! CSI-FUKUOKA, coming next Fall!
You sound like my mother...
One has to be careful about criminal investigations, Madam.
I was once manager of a privately-owned student union, and four times there were really big break-ins, although not much money, and no property, was taken. (The bigger pain was dealing with restoring the destruction.)
My nose should have picked up a scent when I saw the same policeman there every time, investigating, but I paid no attention.
But then, in a break-in at a bar, this same policeman was caught and arrested, and yeah, as it turned out, he was their "fingerprints" expert, and he admitted to various break-ins, including the four at this student union.
He was sent away for a long time (the Nebraska State Penitentiary), but man, all he ever got out of eleven break-ins, combined, was less than.....$800.
"I knew it was me all along", said the investigating officer
It was so weird; every time I called the cops, this same cop came to investigate.
Now, Lincoln, Nebraska, is not a small town, and one assumes they have more than one fingerprint "expert" at hand, but this guy came every time, and "collected" the fingerprints.
Strange thought process...
Yes it is.
Nice place, actually. I used to live there.
LOL,
It is damn good thing this cop is not in the sex crimes unit. :-)
:D
LOL
Gil Grissom wouldn't approve of this.
Chikugo? I'm not surprised with all the corruption running rampant in that town. Thanks to Al Kupone and his mufia.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.