A police station in Tokyo's Nakano Ward on Wednesday launched a support program for crime victims to provide psychological care in cooperation with the municipal government and local hospitals, sources said.
The Metropolitan Police Department's Nogata branch said it started the program by expanding its crime victims' support task force, which has sent officers to crime scenes to offer counseling to victims, and by working with the Nakano Ward Office and local hospitals. "We hope to respond to cases that cannot be dealt with effectively by police alone," said Satoru Koike, vice head of the Nogata Police Station.
The police station launched the original task force last July to hear the voices of victims, who often remain silent about their ordeals. The task force has dispatched officers to the scenes of murder and rape on a round-the-clock basis.
The task force had dispatched officers 24 times as of May 10, and many of the cases were sexual crimes, police said.