Police officer warned, salary to be deducted for playing Switch while on duty

A police officer in his 40s at Japan’s Tenri Police Station has been reprimanded after playing Switch while on duty. Aside from receiving a warning from the director of the Nara prefectural police department, his pay will be deducted as well.

According to a report from The Japan News, the officer used a Switch ten times for a total of seventeen hours between November 2023 and February 2024. Again, this was while he was on duty. Police say that work was neglected when he connected his system to a TV in the break room at the police box.

An unannounced inspection was conducted last month when it was discovered that the Switch console was still connected to the television. The officer said that he “played games when there were few incidents.”

The officer’s pay will be dedicated based on the amount of time he spent playing. Since that amounted to seventeen hours, that’ll be a decent chunk lost.