Police to send papers on 'thieving cop'

The Yomiuri Shimbun

YOKOHAMA--Police said they will send papers to prosecutors over a senior police officer who allegedly stole a bicycle because he was worried about being late for work.

The Kanagawa prefectural police will punish the police officer, whose duties include preventing bicycle thefts.

The policeman, 25, of Takatsu Police Station, allegedly stole a bicycle parked outside a video rental shop in Saiwai Ward, Kawasaki, on the morning of Aug. 3 and rode it two kilometers to Kashimada Station on the JR Nambu Line. The bicycle belonged to a part-time worker at the store.

According to the police, the employee recognized the policeman in security video footage and called the phone number the officer had registered to become a video shop member.

A man claiming to be the police officer's father answered the call and asked the part-timer not to report the case because his son would lose his job at a "security company." The employee then called the police.

The policeman admitted he stole the bicycle because he was running late for work, according to the police.

The papers were to be sent to the Kawasaki Ward Public Prosecutors Office on Thursday.