Kazuhiro Tarama, right, director of the Okinawa governor’s executive office, and other prefectural and police officials arrive for the community partnership forum at Camp Foster, Okinawa, May 28, 2026. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Okinawa authorities and U.S. military leaders have met for a second time to review the progress of cooperative measures over the past year to stem criminal behavior by U.S. service members.
The Okinawa Community Partnership Forum met Thursday for 2½ hours at Ocean Breeze on Camp Foster. It was attended by 19 representatives from the U.S. military on Okinawa and the U.S. Consulate General Naha, and 18 representatives from the prefectural government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, police and Okinawa Defense Bureau.
The group reviewed the progress of joint patrols undertaken since April 2025 in nightlife areas of Okinawa city by U.S. military and Okinawa police, according to a joint news release Thursday from the prefecture and U.S. Forces Japan.
Kazuhiro Tarama, director of the Okinawa governor’s executive office, speaks to reporters at the prefecture's office in Naha city, following the second Okinawa Community Partnership Forum at Camp Foster, Okinawa, May 28, 2026. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
They also discussed efforts to raise awareness of USFJ’s liberty policy, which was updated in October 2024 to ban off-base drinking between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.
The forum and patrols were proposed amid a series of sexual assault allegations against American service members beginning in late 2023, according to a message from then-USFJ commander Air Force Lt. Gen. Ricky Rupp posted on the command’s website in July 2024. The first forum took place on May 9, 2025.
USFJ is “particularly pleased with the success” of the patrols, spokesman Army Capt. Brock Daugherty said by email Friday.
“One of the purposes and effects of the USFJ Liberty Order is to safeguard the vital relationship we have with Japan,” he added. “To support this objective, commanders are directed to practice proactive, intrusive leadership and develop programs that foster positive behavior and accountability. These efforts are unified across the USFJ service components, and leadership continuously reviews incidents to adjust guidance and ensure all measures remain effective.”
Joint patrols have not “reached a point where we can evaluate them,” Kazuhiro Tarama, director of Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki’s executive office, told reporters later Thursday at the prefecture’s office in Naha. “The period is too short, and we still don’t have a grasp of the numbers.”
USFJ plans to resume solo U.S. military police patrols, but dates and locations have yet to be announced, Daugherty said.
Patrols by military police alone were halted in November after a military police officer stopped American tourist Kareem El outside a bar on Gate 2 Street near Kadena Air Base. Video of the officer lifting El and slamming him onto the sidewalk spread widely on social media.
U.S. Army Col. Thomas Scott, director of J5 Strategy, Plans and Policy for USFJ, led the U.S. side in the forum, a prefectural spokesman told Stars and Stripes after Tarama’s news conference Thursday. Some Japanese government officials must speak to the press on condition of anonymity.
The Japanese side presented information showing more instances of unlawful entry and property damage attributed to U.S. military-affiliated personnel were recorded in 2025 compared to the overall rate across the prefecture, according to Thursday’s joint release.
“We did not ask the U.S. side to evaluate these initiatives, but we need to consider more effective measures” considering the data, Tarama said. He did not provide specific numbers.
Participants also discussed upcoming changes to the Okinawa Orientation Overview, the mandatory newcomers briefing for U.S. military personnel arriving on Okinawa. The Japanese side proposed adding details about sexual offenses and penalties and prevention measures for drunken driving incidents, Tarama said.
Daugherty did not immediately have information about when a new version of the briefing would be implemented.
