Illegal Use of Old Driver's Licenses Suspected at Kanagawa Police

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)--The Kanagawa prefectural police in eastern Japan are believed to have inappropriately used information from expired driver's licenses collected from citizens at the time of renewal for over 30 years, according to the National Police Agency.

Improper use of information from driver's licenses may constitute a violation of the personal information protection law. The NPA has instructed the prefectural police to confirm the facts in full detail and has set up a team to start nationwide investigations.

"It's only natural to comply with laws and regulations in police activities. We take the acts of the Kanagawa prefectural police seriously because they should not have happened," NPA Commissioner-General Yoshinobu Kusunoki said as he apologized at a regular press conference Thursday.

The Kanagawa police will erase all inappropriately obtained information and implement measures to prevent recurrence such as a change in the way their security division collects information, Kusunoki added.

According to NPA and other sources, a senior police officer of the security department of the Hodogaya police station in the prefectural capital of Yokohama was found to have taken out expired driver's licenses.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]