Kyoryuchi Keisatsu (居留地警察)
Kyoryuchi Keisatsu (the Foreign Settlement Police) refers to the police force placed in the foreign settlements throughout the Empire of Japan prior to treaty revision. They were equivalent to the concession police force stationed in China. The foreign settlement police were disbanded following Japan's successful revision of its treaties with foreign powers in 1899.
There were two types of foreign settlement police: the first kind (present at the foreign settlements in Tsukiji, Yokohama, and Nagasaki) was under the jurisdiction of the ongoku bugyo (magistrates of distant provinces) in the Edo period and the prefectural police departments during the Meiji period, while the second kind of foreign settlement police force (like that in place at the foreign settlements in Kawaguchi and Kobe) was established autonomously by the inhabitants and was entirely unsupervised by Japan's Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Tsukiji Settlement
In Tsukiji Settlement, the bette gumi (auxiliary troop), which had been established by the Edo bakufu (shogunate) to provide foreigners with bodyguards, also carried out security and police duties. The bette gumi was disbanded in 1872, after which responsibility for security and police duties in the settlement fell to Tokyo Prefecture (and later the Metropolitan Police Department (of the Ministry of Home Affairs)).
The Yokohama Settlement
In 1860, a force called the 'Kyoryuchi Mimawariyaku' (Settlement Patrollers) was established under the jurisdiction of the Magistrate of Kanagawa. But because communication between patrolmen and inhabitants proved difficult due to the multiple languages spoken there, in 1864 the bakufu concluded an arrangement with the four countries of Great Britain, the United States, France, and the Netherlands, under which the autonomous settlement organization called the 'Settlement Party' would establish a police force. The Settlement Party ran into difficulties raising funds to cover the administration and operation of a police force, however, so they relinquished their police powers to the magistrate of Kanagawa. The magistrate of Kanagawa reestablished the 'Settlement Patrol' and appointed a resident of the settlement the chief of police.
This police system continued for a few years after the Meiji Restoration. As of 1871, the personnel of the Mimawariyaku included 20 foreigners (of which seven were subjects of Qing China) and 41 Japanese. In November of 1871 the Settlement Patrol was disbanded, whereupon a special dedicated section of the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Department was established to police the Settlement.
The Nagasaki Settlement
In 1860, a police force was created by the self-governing body of the foreign settlement. But after the Meiji Restoration, the Nagasaki Settlement gradually fell into decline, and it consequently became difficult to continue to maintain a police force; as a result, in 1879 the settlement relinquished its police powers to the Nagasaki Prefectural Police Department. Until 1899, there were foreign police officers enrolled in the Nagasaki Prefectural Police Department.
The Kawaguchi Settlement
In the immediate aftermath of the foreign settlement's establishment, the troops known as the 'Naniwatai' (Osaka Group) and the 'Torishimari Bansotsu' (Supervisory Guardsmen), who later became sections of the Osaka Metropolitan Police Department, carried out security and police duties in the settlement. However, in 1873 the 'Gyojikyoku' (the Events Department), a self-governing body of the settlement, created its own dedicated police force, which it called the 'Kyoryuchi torishimari kakari-in' (Settlement Supervisors). And then in 1875, with the enactment of the 'Municipal Police Regulations,' entry into the settlement by police officers of the Japanese police force was restricted.
The Kobe Settlement
Immediately after the foreign settlement was established, three settlement police forces existed simultaneously, the 'Gaikoku keihoboyaku' (the 'troop handling the pursuit, apprehension and death of the foreign(ers)) and the 'Kyoryuchi mawarigata' (Settlement Patrolmen) representing Japan's police and the Kyoryuchi torishimari kakari' (Settlement Supervisors) which had been established by the 'Gyojikyoku,' the self-governing body of the settlement. But in 1871, the 'Gaikoku keihoboyaku' and the 'Kyoryuchi mawarigata' were disbanded, leaving the 'Kyoryuchi torishimari kakari' with exclusive police jurisdiction over the settlement. As of 1894, the personnel of the Kyoryuchi torishimari kakari included four foreign and thirteen Japanese police officers.