A plain clothes police officer argued with clerks at a mobile phone shop for over 8 hours, prompting the shop to consider filing a complaint.

The 32-year-old officer from Kushiro Police Station was in plain clothes when he visited the local mobile phone shop at about 11 a.m. on March 18.

He complained for one hour, saying that the battery in his mobile phone ran out quickly after only just having it repaired, according to the shop’s owner Kazuki Takebayashi.

Staff told the officer that they would replace his mobile phone. The officer then left and returned at about 2:30 p.m. to pick up the new phone.

But the officer got angry when he realized that some data contained in his old mobile phone had not been transferred to the new one, and stayed there arguing past the shop’s closing time of 7 p.m.

Takebayashi then alerted officers at a nearby police box in Kushiro. The plain clothes officer talked in a friendly manner with two of three officers who arrived at the shop.

Takebayashi asked the visiting officers whether the complainant was a police officer. The officers told Takebayashi that this was the first time they had met the man.

But another officer who came to the shop at about 9:30 p.m. admitted that the man was a police officer and apologized to Takebayashi. Persuaded by the other officers, the plain clothes officer eventually left the shop at about 10:30 p.m.

Two senior officials from Kushiro Police Station visited the mobile phone shop the next day, telling Takebayashi that they would question the officer involved and may punish him.

(毎日インタラクティブ)