One Year After An In-deuk... Increase in Police Hospitalization Measures for 'High-Risk Mental Illness Patients'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Since Ahn In-deuk, who suffered from schizophrenia, committed an apartment arson and murder incident in Jinju, Gyeongnam, last April, the number of psychiatric patients admitted for treatment has nearly doubled.

The National Police Agency announced on the 22nd that the average monthly number of psychiatric patients admitted over the 12 months from last April to last month was 625.1. Compared to the average monthly 338.4 admissions from September 2018, when related statistics began to be compiled, until March last year, this represents an increase of about 84.7%.

Specifically, 'administrative admission,' which is requested by the police and applied for by a specialist to the head of a local government, increased by 112.7%, from an average of 18.1 to 38.5 per month. Additionally, 'emergency admission,' which occurs in urgent situations such as self-harm by psychiatric patients and involves reporting by discoverers, police intervention, and specialist consent, also rose by 83.1%, from an average of 320.3 to 586.6 per month.

The National Police Agency focused on strengthening systematic protection and rehabilitation support for high-risk psychiatric patients through cooperation with related agencies such as the Ministry of Health and Welfare, local governments, and fire departments over the past year, as well as enhancing the police's on-site response capabilities.

To this end, they established and implemented the 'Plan to Strengthen Response to Psychiatric Crime and Treatment Linkage,' activating treatment linkages such as administrative and emergency admissions for high-risk psychiatric patients who repeatedly threaten themselves or others without cause.

They also formed a 'Regional Psychiatric Emergency Response Council' to inspect and improve the status of psychiatric emergency responses for high-risk psychiatric patients in their respective areas, while conducting repetitive job training through an 'On-site Response Manual.'

Furthermore, the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Health and Welfare plan to expand the 'Emergency Intervention Teams' at Metropolitan Mental Health Welfare Centers, which are capable of 24-hour dispatch during nights and holidays, from the current 7 locations (Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, Gyeongnam, Jeju) to 17 regions with 34 centers by July this year. The center staff will also increase from 2,713 last year to 3,497 this year.

A National Police Agency official stated, "To alleviate public anxiety about high-risk psychiatric patients, we will strengthen cooperation with related agencies and improve the capabilities of on-site police officers to respond safely according to the manual."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.