Keishicho (to 1945)

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The Teikoku Keishichō (帝国警視庁) or Keishichō (Imperial Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department) was the regular and common criminal and civil security police service, in Tōkyō and nearby metropolitan areas, in Japan, from 1874 to 1945. See Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department for the current arrangements.

[edit] History

The old samurai police force of the Shogun (Imperial Police Office or "Kebiishi-Cho") was dismantled with the coming of the Meiji Restoration and a new system was to be put into place. Toshiyoshi Kawaji went for a tour of Europe in 1872 and returned with the influences of France's Third Republic and Prussia's police forces as his models. Formerly, Japan had been divided into regions controlled by the ruling daimyo. This system was abolished in 1871 and a new division into ken (prefectures) came into effect. The Naimusho (Home Ministry) came into being in 1873 and, with the restructuring, they began to implement the new system.

In 1874, Kawaji became the commander of the "Keishicho" (Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department) and began his reorganization program. Other police and military changes occurred during this time of massive innovation in Japan.

See police services of the Empire of Japan for a survey of the later complexities of the system.

This was the Japanese equivalent of the German Kriminalpolizei and Ordnungspolizei civil police service. The service later came under military command, as part of the defensive militia, in the final days of the Pacific War. It was set to fight of the enemy invasion of mainland Japan.

The institution was disbanded by the Allied Authorities in 1945, and replaced by the new National Police Agency (Japan) operating from the 1950s to the present day.