Tokyo, 09 August, /AJMEDIA/
A police officer left his loaded handgun at a convenience store in Ashikawa City on Monday, Hokkaido Prefectural Police said Tuesday.
According to police, the officer, a sergeant in his 20s, was heading to work in plain clothes when he used the convenience store’s toilet at around 10:20 a.m. on Monday, Kyodo News reported. He removed his gun holster and left it hanging on a coat hook when he left the store.
After noticing that his firearm was missing about 35 minutes later, the sergeant contacted the store and went back to retrieve the handgun. No bullets were missing. The staff reportedly told the police they were unaware that the holster contained a handgun.
Internal regulations specify that officers must wear their handguns at all times. A prefectural police spokesman said: “We would like to deeply apologize for damaging public trust in the police. We will provide thorough instructions to our personnel to prevent a reoccurrence.”
