A is a small neighborhood police station found in Japan. The term also refers to the smallest organizational unit in a modern Japanese prefectural police force. Small kà Âban buildings, staffed by uniformed officers at around 6,000 locations across the country, are the bases for community policing activities which complement the work of larger, central police stations. Although often translated into English as "police box", kà Âban bear little resemblance to the police boxes formerly found in the United Kingdom or the police call boxes formerly found in the United States, as they are larger and more permanent structures than both police boxes and call boxes.
A kà Âban is typically a one- or two-story building with a couple of rooms (although there is wide variation), staffed by a few police officers belonging to the of a . Many kà Âban have signs reading KOBAN in Latin script.
Police officers stationed at kà Âban serve several roles:
The name kà Âban derives from the name of the earliest structure built in 1874, which were simple boxes meant for , thus creating a compound word consisting of and . Soon after, in 1881, kà Âban were transformed into local community stations with as many as six officers and a new official name was given to it â although its common name, "kà Âban" survived.
"Kà Âban" was further systematized and spread out nationwide, playing an important role in the Japanese police system over decades. In 1994, the official name hashutsujo was changed back to kà Âban.
In 2017, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has been posting officers in kà Âbans who speak more than one language to help tourists and foreign expats, using the Kabukicho Kà Âban in Shinjuku and the Shibuya Ekimae Kà Âban.
In 2019, the NPA ordered a risk assessment following a series of attacks on kà Âban officers. In one case in 2019, a lone officer stationed inside a kà Âban in Suita was attacked and his sidearm stolen.
A system of small neighbourhood police stations based on the Japanese kà Âban system can also be found in Singapore, where they are known as neighbourhood police posts (NPPs). The neighbourhood police centre (NPC) system was also formed thereafter on the same neighbourhood policing system and principles, following a 1996 review of the NPP system in order to serve the Singaporean public more efficiently with consolidated manpower in each NPC.
In Myanmar, police outposts () function similarly to kà Âban in Japan. Each outpost is typically commanded by a police sergeant and staffed by three other police officers. Following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, more police and military outposts were set up to enhance surveillance and security. These outposts are usually located on street platforms, roadsides, near government buildings, embassies, military bases, major intersections, busy marketplaces, and other strategic urban areas.
Additionally, the kà Âban system has become popular with international police training and assistance programs, particularly those of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). JICA has helped to establish kà Âban-style community policing programs in several countries, including Indonesia, Brazil, and Honduras. In 2016, a kà Âban was built by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) at The Grove Mall in Los Angeles, California, USA; the LAPD also operates a kà Âban in the Little Tokyo neighborhood.