Police to Conduct Comprehensive Reassessment of 'Female Safety Concerns' Environment

Anxiety Spreads Over Jodusun's Release... Security Facilities to Be Checked Until April 4

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] As anxiety over the recurrence of sex crimes grows following the full-term release of child sex offender Jo Doo-soon (69), the police have launched a comprehensive reassessment of environments causing unease for women. They plan to re-examine the surroundings near sex offenders' residences and improve vulnerable areas.

According to the National Police Agency on the 21st, the police began the "Women's Safety Environment Reassessment" on the 14th, two days after Jo Doo-soon was released on the 12th of this month. This reassessment will continue until the 4th of next month. The police had already conducted a large-scale environmental inspection and improvement project for women's safety in May this year.

At that time, the police inspected a total of 2,436 locations, including 1,964 Women’s Safe Return Home Paths and 472 Women’s Safe Zones, and simultaneously carried out environmental improvements such as installing closed-circuit televisions (CCTV), lighting, and emergency bells at 1,401 sites. However, as public anxiety over Jo Doo-soon's release persisted, the police decided to re-examine the results and operational status of the women's safety environment improvements made in the first half of the year and to designate and operate new vulnerable areas.

To this end, the police will first verify environmental improvements based on the first half inspection results for the previously designated zones and check the actual conditions such as malfunctioning or aging security facilities. If additional improvements are identified, they plan to refurbish the surrounding environment accordingly.

In particular, considering that 157 out of 292 reoffense cases (53.7%) by sex offenders wearing electronic monitoring devices (electronic anklets) in the past five years occurred within a 1 km radius of their residences, the police will conduct focused inspections of these areas. After a detailed diagnosis of risk factors and deficiencies in security facilities, new Women’s Safe Return Home Paths and Women’s Safe Zones will be designated, and environmental improvement projects such as CCTV installation will be prioritized. This includes an investment of 3 billion KRW from the police’s own budget allocated next year for the women's crime prevention infrastructure project. A National Police Agency official stated, "We will use the occasion of Jo Doo-soon's release to alleviate the anxiety around sex offenders’ residences and create an environment where women can feel safe."

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