National Police Agency

Operating under the National Public Safety Commission inside Japan's Cabinet Office, the agency functions as the nerve center of the nation's policing. It differs sharply from foreign equivalents such as the American FBI, since it fields no investigators or patrol officers directly. Its purpose lies in shaping nationwide standards and broad direction rather than carrying out arrests.

That restraint comes with a caveat. Should a disaster or emergency strike on a national scale, the bureau gains authority to direct the prefectural departments beneath it. The policies it follows are themselves handed down by the Public Safety Commission that oversees its work.

Once L concludes that Kira operates somewhere inside Japan, he opens a remote line to the agency, coordinating through a computer rather than in person. Because pursuing such a killer carries obvious peril, Deputy Director Soichiro Yagami offers every assigned officer a way out, with no demotion or lost wages attached, and the bulk of them take it.

Early funding for the Kira-hunting unit, the Japanese Task Force, flows from the agency's coffers. When the trail goes cold and progress halts, that funding dries up and Shuichi Aizawa rejoins the parent bureau. Even so, he leans on its resources to back the Task Force in its pursuit of the Yotsuba Kira.

The agency's roster across the various continuities includes Touta Matsuda, Koreyoshi Kitamura, Shuichi Aizawa, and Hideki Ide, alongside Kanzo Mogi and figures such as Yamamoto and Sanami. Several of its officers do not survive the Kira affair, among them Ito Shiroba, Soichiro Yagami, Hirokazu Ukita, Kanichi Takimura, and Light Yagami.

Adaptations widen the list further. The 2015 television drama folds Shoko Himura into its ranks, while the original pilot one-shot featured early versions named N-Suke Yamanaka and Takagi.