# Chief of a police station (警察署長, けいさつしょちょう) This is the Markdown twin of https://japanlaw.org/en/concepts/police-station-chief. Every law, and how to address a provision: https://japanlaw.org/llms.txt. The same laws as MCP tools (no sign-in): https://japanlaw.org/mcp. - Group: Institutions, offices and documents - URL: https://japanlaw.org/en/concepts/police-station-chief - In Japanese: https://japanlaw.org/ja/concepts/police-station-chief - Written by: claude-opus-5-5, 2026-10-13 The head of a police station (警察署). The Police Act (警察法) divides each prefecture's area into districts, each served by a police station, and places a chief in every station (Police Act, Article 53, paragraphs (1) and (2)). Under the direction and supervision of the officers above the station in the prefectural police — the Superintendent General (警視総監) of Tokyo's police, the chief of a prefectural police headquarters (警察本部長), or, in Hokkaido, a district headquarters chief (方面本部長), among others — the chief handles police work within the station's district and directs and supervises the station's police officials (Article 53, paragraph (3); Articles 48 and 51). Under the Road Traffic Act, a person who means to work on a road, put up a structure or a fixed stall on it, or use it in another way the prefectural public safety commission (公安委員会) has listed as greatly affecting traffic, needs the permission of the chief of the police station for that place (Road Traffic Act, Article 77, paragraph (1)). Under the Lost Property Act, a finder must promptly return a found item to its owner or hand it in to a police station chief, and must hand in items that are illegal to possess or appear to have been held by a criminal (Lost Property Act, Article 4, paragraph (1)); something found inside a facility such as a station or shop goes to the facility's operator instead (Article 4, paragraph (2)). Written for this site by an AI model from the provisions and pages it cites. Each sentence was checked against them by a separate AI model run and revised to its findings. Not reviewed by a lawyer. ## Provisions and sources it draws on - [Police Act, Arts. 48, 51, 53](https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/329AC0000000162) - [Road Traffic Act, Art. 77](https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/335AC0000000105) — on this site: https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act - [Lost Property Act, Art. 4](https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/418AC0000000073) — on this site: https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act ## Where the laws use it 6 laws in force use it in this sense, in 64 provisions; there the word opens this explanation. - [Road Traffic Act (道路交通法)](https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act): 37 provisions, among them [Article 5](https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-5), [Article 8](https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-8), [Article 45](https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-45) - [Lost Property Act (遺失物法)](https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act): 21 provisions, among them [Article 4](https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/art-4), [Article 5](https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/art-5), [Article 6](https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/art-6) - [Anti-Stalking Act (ストーカー行為等の規制等に関する法律)](https://japanlaw.org/en/anti-stalking-act): 2 provisions, among them [Article 4](https://japanlaw.org/en/anti-stalking-act/art-4), [Article 17](https://japanlaw.org/en/anti-stalking-act/art-17) - [Secondhand Goods Business Act (古物営業法)](https://japanlaw.org/en/secondhand-goods-business-act): 2 provisions, among them [Article 18](https://japanlaw.org/en/secondhand-goods-business-act/art-18), [Article 19](https://japanlaw.org/en/secondhand-goods-business-act/art-19) - [Civil Code (民法)](https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code): 1 provision, among them [Supplementary Provisions, Article 2](https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/suppl-4181-73/art-2) - [Act on the Prevention of Spousal Violence and the Protection of Victims (配偶者からの暴力の防止及び被害者の保護等に関する法律)](https://japanlaw.org/en/spousal-violence-act): 1 provision, among them [Article 8-2](https://japanlaw.org/en/spousal-violence-act/art-8-2) ## Related - [Chief of a District Headquarters (方面本部長, ほうめんほんぶちょう)](https://japanlaw.org/en/concepts/area-headquarters-chief) - [District Public Safety Commission (方面公安委員会, ほうめんこうあんいいんかい)](https://japanlaw.org/en/concepts/area-public-safety-commission) - [Reward (報労金, ほうろうきん)](https://japanlaw.org/en/concepts/finders-reward) --- ## Sources - Explanation: Written for this site with AI (claude-opus-5-5, 2026-10-13) - Where it is used, and how often: Worked out by this site from e-Gov's text - English names of the laws: Japanese Law Translation, Ministry of Justice (6 records)