特殊詐欺撲滅へ「青バイ」投入　機動力発揮、容疑者逮捕も―大阪府警

　大阪府警地域部に所属するバイク部隊「スカイブルー隊」（通称＝青バイ隊）が、特殊詐欺対策に一役買っている。全国の都道府県警で唯一、交通部所属の白バイ隊とは別に１９９７年に創設。当初はひったくりなど街頭犯罪の取り締まり強化が目的だったが、機動力を生かした新たな任務に当たっている。
　府警によると、府内のひったくりの認知件数は２０００年の１万９７３件をピークに年々減少。今年１～７月は５５件で、年間１００件を下回るペースで推移している。一方、同期間の特殊詐欺の認知件数は約８００件で、被害額は約１４億１０００万円と、前年同期比で約１億８０００万円増加しているという。
　府警は９月から、無人の現金自動預払機（ＡＴＭ）を利用する高齢者に声を掛けて注意喚起するなどの特別警戒活動にスカイブルー隊を投入。大阪市内で行われた出発式で、利岡孝一朗地域部参事官は「俊敏性を生かして警戒を徹底し、詐欺被害撲滅へとつなげたい」と訓示した。
　８日には、資産状況などを聞き出そうとする不審電話が３件相次いだ地域に隊員が急行。職務質問した２０代の男が、大阪市内の７０代女性のキャッシュカードを所持していたため詐欺容疑で逮捕しており、引き続き取り締まりを強化する。（2021/09/14-20:31）

The "sky blue" squad of police motorcyclists in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, is playing a part in clamping down on special fraud targeting mainly elderly people.
   The corps at the Osaka prefectural police department's local bureau was founded in 1997 as the country's first police motorcycle unit different from the "shirobai" units of white motorcycles set up at the traffic departments of police departments across Japan mainly for tackling traffic violations.
   The squad of "aobai" blue motorcycles, which was initially designed to combat snatching and other street crimes, is now taking on the new mission by making use of its quick response capabilities.
   In Osaka, the number of cases of snatching recognized by the prefectural police has been declining since peaking at 10,973 in 2000, and totaled only 55 in the first seven months of this year. Meanwhile, special fraud cases recognized by the police in the same seven months stood at some 800, with the total amount of money stolen reaching some 1.41 billion yen, up 180 million yen from a year before.
   From this month, the sky blue squad is being mobilized for stepped-up operations to combat special fraud, such as alerting elderly people who are using automated teller machines. "We want to eliminate special fraud by thoroughly taking precautions through the use of the squad's capabilities to act quickly," Koichiro Toshioka, a senior official at the Osaka police's local bureau, told members of the squad at a ceremony to launch the special operations.