They must have stolen it very quickly, but it looks like we’ll never know how fast they were going.

When it comes to catching motorists driving too fast in Japan, speed traps are sometimes referred to as “mouse traps” (nezumitori) and are often done in a very coordinated fashion of several officers working together. Usually, one person is operating a speed measuring device in one location, and when someone is found going too fast, another officer is alerted up the road who then flags down the offending vehicle and directs them to someone else to handle the issuing of the tickets, all without any need for high-speed pursuits, which are considered a last resort in Japanese law enforcement for the sake of public safety.

Despite that, catching speeders is still dangerous work as police have to go out onto busy roads. It’s also costly as it requires multiple officers at a single location.

▼ This video of a mouse trap gives a good look at how many officers can be working at a single one. In the video, it’s unclear whether they catch the motorcycle in the thumbnail image, but according to the maker of the video who spoke to police, standard practice is to get his plate number and make the arrest later rather than chase him through the city.

That’s why police departments have been looking into the use of portable automated systems that photograph license plates of speeders and deliver tickets to them afterward. The Saitama Prefectural Police currently have five of these radar cameras in operation.

Actually, make that “four” because one was recently stolen from right under their noses.

On 18 June, two officers with the Saitama Prefectural Police set up a radar camera on a tripod on a sidewalk along National Route 125 in the city of Kazo. They then parked their patrol car some 100 meters (330 feet) away to keep an eye on it while staying out of sight.

They apparently were not watching it closely enough, because at some point between 10:50 p.m. and 11:24 p.m. it was stolen. The machine was about 50 x 50 x 20 centimeters (20 x 20 x 8 inches) and only weighed about 20 kilograms (44 pounds), so it could have even been snatched by a pedestrian while no one was looking.

▼ A news report showing the type of camera and location where it was taken

In addition to the nine-million-yen (US$56,000) value of the camera, it is believed to have the photos of 10 speeders’ license plates in its memory. According to police, that personal information doesn’t appear to have been leaked.

This marks the first time an Orbis was stolen in Japan. “Orbis,” by the way, is the common term for a radar-camera speed trap system in Japan, because the first ones used here were the Orbis III brand by Ling-Temco-Vaught in the ’70s. The originals were bulky systems with film cameras that could only be installed on huge roadside rigs or overpasses, so this stolen device is called a “portable Orbis” even though a completely different company made it. It’s like Kleenex, Velcro, or Band-Aids.

In online comments about the news, many people expressed their understandable disappointment with the police for letting their guard down.

“They must have been sleeping, right?”
“That machine was paid for by tax money. Those two officers should be responsible for a new one.”
“The thief is the one in the wrong here, of course, but the conduct of those officers is inexcusable.”
“How could it take them 35 minutes to notice the camera was gone?”
“I wonder if one of the speeders noticed it and went back to take the evidence.”
“Now they have to catch this thief. They’re making more work for themselves.”
“This time it was stolen, but those things are also vulnerable to people just knocking them over.”
“It certainly is portable!”
“What is someone even going to do with that thing?”

Assuming the person or people even knew what they were taking, they’d have to be either extremely organized to have known exactly when to take it, or extremely stupid but lucky to attempt to steal police property and succeed. If it was the former, they could be attempting to study it to find a way for drivers to avoid detection and sell it, or they might use it themselves to pose as police and defraud people through fake speeding tickets. If it was the latter, they’re probably hitting it with a rock or trying to sell it on Mercari right now.

The Saitama Police said they would launch a full investigation into the matter, and that should come as no surprise. Unlike other thefts, this is a matter of personal pride for them. And, as we’ve seen from the arrest of a man tracked across the country for stealing two packs of ground beef, the police in Japan can be really tenacious when they want to be.

Source: Josei Jishin, Yahoo! Japan News, Best Car Web, Saitama Shimbun
Top image: Pakutaso
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