Sergeant Shintaro Baba, right, a member of the Saitama Prefectural Police's Mobile Patrol Unit dispatched to Urawa Police Station as a support officer while a member of the station is on parental leave, is seen with Police Officer Yosuke Akiba, left, whom he is teaching on-the-job questioning skills, at Urawa Police Station in the city of Saitama on Nov. 24, 2021. (Mainichi/Hayato Narisawa)

       SAITAMA -- To allow police station staff to ask for parental leave without concern, Saitama Prefectural Police have begun a scheme to dispatch support officers from the force's headquarters to fill in for employees while they are off.

       The scheme is aimed at reducing the mental hurdle in requesting parental leave, and eliminating concerns that taking leave will increase the work burden of other officers. The dispatched officers will come from the Mobile Patrol Unit, who are skilled at apprehending suspects via police questioning, and as "pros at questioning," it is hoped they will be able to pass on some of their expertise.

       According to prefectural police, just 18.3% of male officers took parental leave in fiscal 2020. Uptake is particularly low among male police officers working at police stations, with only 13.8% using it. Meanwhile, in 2020, officers on the prefectural police force discovered 3.86 crimes per-person on average, the highest rate in the country -- far above the national average of 2.37 cases. A questionnaire of police employees found that many responded that they "want to take parental leave, but worry about the effect on the workplace."

       During the prefectural police's autumn personnel changes, the Mobile Patrol Unit's staff was increased by 10 people to secure parental-leave support officers. Until now prefectural police had responded by reviewing the distribution of staff at workplaces, among other measures, but the system of dispatching staff when station-based officers take two or more months of parental leave began in October.

       Sergeant Masahiro Shimazaki, right, from the criminal affairs division of Saitama Prefectural Police's Urawa Police Station, is seen on parental leave with his wife Fujiko, in the city of Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, on Dec. 3, 2021. (Mainichi/Hayato Narisawa)

       Urawa Police Station criminal affairs division Sergeant Masahiro Shimazaki, 33, is currently using the system and is on parental leave. He went on leave immediately after his second daughter's birth, and plans to be away from work until early January. Ordinarily he'd be busy spending his days dealing with theft incidents. Previously the time he got to spend directly with his children on weekdays was limited, but during the period of leave, he and his wife Fujiko, 32, have been able to focus on raising the kids together. "Raising kids has its fun parts and its hard parts, but I'm very thankful I could have this precious time to spend fully with my family," he said.

       When his elder daughter was born, he didn't take parental leave. One reason he hesitated to take leave was that he thought he would "leave gaps at work," but he said that thanks to the dispatch of the support officers, he felt he would worry and burden the people around him less. He thinks now that he wants to recommend actively taking parental leave to his colleagues. Fujiko, too, smiled and said, "Raising children alone is hard, mentally and physically. That we can be together for two months is a great help."

       While Sergeant Shimazaki is on parental leave, Mobile Patrol Unit Sergeant Shintaro Baba, 34, has been dispatched to Urawa Police Station, where he is teaching Police Officer Yosuke Akiba, 34, in-the-field questioning skills while they ride together on patrol car duty. Mobile Patrol Unit officers are skilled at spotting suspicious people while out on patrol, questioning them, and apprehending them for illegal possession of drugs, bladed objects or other items. Sergeant Baba said, "I think for large-scale police stations, in particular, it's hard to take parental leave. Together with Police Officer Akiba, I want to work hard to be of help to the station."

       Saitama Prefectural Police aim to have a 30% parental leave uptake among male employees by the end of fiscal 2025. The force stated, "There is a limit to how much we can do by just creating an atmosphere conducive to taking parental leave. By securing employees' work-life balance, we hope to achieve an attractive workplace."

       (Japanese original by Hayato Narisawa, Saitama Bureau)

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