The National Police Agency has instructed prefectural police nationwide in charge of training and education to ensure their officers do not overuse their service revolvers.
The instruction came Wednesday after the NPA last week issued revised guidelines on gun use by police and relaxed rules governing the use of guns in self-defense, noting an increase in the number of officers killed in the line of duty.
Addressing about 190 top officials in Tokyo, Shigeaki Ishikawa, NPA director general of the secretariat, said, "Even if we change the guidelines, we cannot achieve our targets if each and every police officer does not change his or her thinking."