ABSTRACT
The decision to decentralize the Japanese police system, taken in 1947 and carried out in March 1948, was described by Alfred Oppler, head of the Courts and Law Division, as ‘ideologically sound, but… somewhat unrealistic’. 1 Ideological struggles within both GHQ and the Japanese cabinet formed the backdrop to the reorganization of the police, the differences between Government Section [GS] and the Public Safety Division [PSD] of G-2/CIS proving particularly difficult to reconcile. The clash of interests that delayed and finally produced a flawed programme of reform will be examined in this chapter, whilst the second part of Oppler’s statement will be assessed in Chapter 8. The white heat of the debate concerning the new police structure demonstrates the pivotal role of the Japanese police throughout the Occupation — pivotal in both a positive and negative sense.
