According to a report in the Yomiuri Shimbun on July 24, 2019, Kochi Prefectural Police carried out disciplinary actions against five employees, four of them for having extra-marital relationships.

The Office of Inspection reported that three male senior police officers in their 20s and 30s and a female officer stationed in the headquarters of Kochi Prefectural Police had received written reprimands. The three senior officers were involved with the female police officer in an extra-marital affair.

This is certainly not the first time that Japanese media has reported on police officers being disciplined for behavior related to their private lives. Our readers may recall our report in April of a female police officer in Yamaguchi Prefecture who was sanctioned with a pay cut for using dating apps to meet men. However, unlike in the United States, for example, where rulings (such as one in San Francisco last year) have mostly sided in favor of officers' rights to privacy in off-duty sexual behavior, to our knowledge, there have been no similar rulings in Japan.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

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As for the other employee who was disciplined, a male police sergeant in his 40s in a police station within Kochi Prefecture was chided by headquarters for storing his handgun in his unlocked personal cabinet rather than the locked area he was required to store it in.