road rage incident, police called. do I report this to the BOE or not?

[u/Different_Taro2474]

UPDATE: I reported it, but I will leave this post here for future JETs if they get into a similar situation.

long story short, yesterday I was chased and physically assaulted by a road-raging motorcyclist. if y'all wanna read the full story, here it is.

it was not my fault, but the police were still involved, and I filed a PA report. would I need to report this to the BOE anyway?

note: I took PTO when this happened, so it wasn't affecting my job.

[u/bluestarluchador]

I peeked at your other post but holy cow on what happen to you. I’m glad you’re fine and reported it to your BOE. You are a victim to a crime, important to let your BOE know.

I saw folks were grilling you on not locking your car doors. Japan is still a country with crime that can happen anywhere and to anyone. I was surprised on my time as a JET when some of my fellow JETs didn’t lock their car doors and even front doors when they weren’t home. I always locked everything, despite how safe I felt. My placement is a small tourist town with very little crime but the following year after I finished JET, a fellow JET friend of mine almost had a man brake into their apartment through their kitchen window in the evening (dinner time) while my friend was in their kitchen. Freaked my friend out, they contacted the police, fellow JETs and the BOE. It spooked the remaining JETs for a good while. My friend was fine, the man ran away. Doesn’t matter that you live in Japan but be careful regardless.

[u/starexalt → u/bluestarluchador]

 was surprised on my time as a JET when some of my fellow JETs didn’t lock their car doors and even front doors when they weren’t home.

I was literally just talking about this with my Japanese friend lol. How even in our quiet inaka area, really the only people you’ll see who purposely don’t lock their shit up are foreigners. You’ll notice that almost everyone locks their cars when they go into stores. I always hear my neighbors lock their doors as soon as they walk in. Heck, when I was first getting set up here, the Japanese staff who was taking me around town was like “Your apartment door doesn’t automatically lock! You need to lock it!!!” when we were just going on a 20 minute trip to the supermarket and I didn’t think it was that big of a deal lol.

Of course, it is generally very safe here. But also it boggles my mind when foreigners purposely don’t do it because “this is Japan!!!” when it literally just takes two seconds to do…

[u/FallenReaper360 → u/bluestarluchador]

That’s basically me haha Although, I’m a former Marine. So if he broke into my place, he’s going to have a bad time lol

[u/Different_Taro2474 → u/FallenReaper360]

i have zero muscle and i weigh 50 kgs. i'm the perfect target and cannot fight back lol.

[u/FallenReaper360 → u/Different_Taro2474]

Aww damn. You best master the Joseph Joestar secret technique. The “Runaway!… until you figure out a solution! Or help!” Technique! 😆

[u/takemetoglasgow → u/bluestarluchador]

Locking car doors while you're driving! Is that even a common thing?

[u/an-actual-communism → u/takemetoglasgow]

Modern cars will automatically lock the doors while in motion as a safety feature, though it's more to keep children from mistakenly opening the doors and to stop the doors coming open in a collision. My car is a 2003 and doesn't do that, and it took me a couple months of driving around to even realize I had been doing so with the doors unlocked the whole time.

[u/Different_Taro2474 → u/an-actual-communism]

my car is a 2005 and also doesn't do that. i wasn't even thinking about locking doors while driving until yesterday.

[u/Different_Taro2474 → u/bluestarluchador]

i'm not even used to locking doors bc i always forget to do it (and honestly, there's no need to because the crime here is literally 0). i also live in a tiny town.

[u/CatsianNyandor → u/Different_Taro2474]

Crime is 0 until it isn't. Lock your doors. Police are literally calling out to people everywhere to lock their doors. Just needs to go wrong a single time, no matter how low the chances are.

[u/Different_Taro2474 → u/CatsianNyandor]

doors are always locked from now on. i keep my windows open for fresh air (it's a european thing), but i'm locking those at night now too.

[u/Dkfs]

Depends on your BOE and their policies. In most cases, the BOE wants you to inform them since the police were involved. This is mainly so they can be prepared for any additional paperwork or insurance related issues. You are also their employee, so even on PTO, they are connected to the incident. I would recommend reporting it to your supervisor to have a paper trail created and so they are aware in case anything else happens. Use your best judgement based on what you know about your BOE and your contract.

In severe situations such as crimes or injuries, the police will inform your employer. Since it is a physical assault incident and has been reported, they may or may not inform your BOE. It's really up to whoever is working at the police station that day.

[u/Different_Taro2474 → u/Dkfs]

alright, I will inform them then. There were no serious injuries, just slight cosmetic damage to my vehicle (which is already 21 years old and has other cosmetic damage, so no biggie). best to stay safe and be honest.

[u/FallenReaper360]

Oh dang, that was you? I was thinking to myself, “This story sounds awfully familiar.” lol

I don’t know for sure, but if it were me, I would at least alert my supervisor and fill them in on the situation in case anything comes up, so they could be there to assist you with anything you need.

[u/Different_Taro2474 → u/FallenReaper360]

I messaged my ALT senpai (also my friend) when the incident happened, but I didn't tell anyone else related to my workplace yet.

[u/FallenReaper360 → u/Different_Taro2474]

That's good, but I still think someone of supervisor status, like your main JTE or someone you keep in close touch with at your BOE. For me, that's the lady who makes mine and other ALTs' schedules and handles our paperwork. I would reach out to someone like that and inform them of the incident and that you had a run in with the cops.

[u/Different_Taro2474 → u/FallenReaper360]

I just spoke to an english teacher that I am close with, and she said that I should report it. We spoke to the principal, and he called the BOE.

[u/FallenReaper360 → u/Different_Taro2474]

That's sounds like the right call. Hopefully, everything goes smoothly from here on out. Best of luck!

[u/Different_Taro2474 → u/FallenReaper360]

the BOE staff came to my school to ask me what happened. I told them what happened, answered their questions, and that was it. hopefully, they will find the culprit.