Japan Police to Launch Cybercrime Investigation Unit Fri.

Tokyo, March 30 (Jiji Press)--The Diet, or Japan's parliament, on Wednesday enacted a bill to establish new organizations at the National Police Agency to tackle cybercrimes.

The bill to revise the police law was approved at a plenary session of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet.

To be launched at the agency on Friday are a special cybercrime investigation unit, which will have investigative authority, and a cyber police bureau, which will be created through the integration of cyber-related departments in several existing bureaus.

Granting investigative authority to the NPA, a state institution, will mark a major turning point in Japan's police history as prefectural police have been in charge of investigating crimes since the end of World War II.

The National Public Safety Commission, which has control over the NPA, will receive complaints about unjust investigations related to cybercrimes.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]