District Police Stations and Substations Difficult for Disabled Access... Police Begin Improving Convenience Facilities

Police, Police Stations Disability Convenience Facilities and Awareness Improvement Plan
Survey of 3,239 Locations Shows 69% Installation Rate of Convenience Facilities

National Police Agency. Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] Accessibility to police stations for people with mobility impairments is expected to improve.

On the 8th, according to the police, the National Police Agency decided to establish a plan to increase the installation rate of convenience facilities for people with disabilities based on internal and external survey results targeting local police stations such as police stations, police substations, and security centers. The police plan to gradually improve small-scale facilities that can be improved with each station's own budget first. Police stations undergoing remodeling projects will be continuously managed to reflect convenience facilities for people with disabilities from the design stage. For places where it is difficult to install convenience facilities due to structural issues, standards suitable for the structure will be prepared and improvements will be made accordingly.

The police will secure a dedicated budget to expand convenience facilities for people with disabilities and conduct a full survey of police stations nationwide every year in the first half. They also plan to improve awareness by expanding mandatory education related to disability awareness for police officers and producing and distributing response manuals by type. A National Police Agency official said, "We have sent official letters to all police stations nationwide to convey this content and to improve facilities according to standards starting with places that do not require a large budget," adding, "We plan not only to increase the installation rate but also to closely inspect whether the facilities are properly installed to raise both the quantitative and qualitative levels of convenience facilities for people with disabilities."

According to a full survey conducted by the police from March 9 to 18 targeting 3,239 police stations nationwide, the installation rate of convenience facilities for people with disabilities was 69%. This was below the national installation rate of convenience facilities for people with disabilities (80%) as of 2018. While the installation rates at the National Police Agency headquarters and affiliated institutions, as well as city and provincial police agencies and police stations, were relatively good at 100% and 85% respectively, the installation rate at police substations, police substations, and security centers was only 67%, confirming that accessibility for people with disabilities is particularly vulnerable in these locations.

Earlier, the Solidarity for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a disability human rights organization, requested the National Police Agency in February to establish a plan to improve the convenience environment and awareness for people with disabilities based on monitoring results of 1,615 police substations, police substations, and security centers nationwide for about a month in July last year. The monitoring results showed that the installation rate of parking spaces for people with disabilities at these facilities was only 56%. Among them, 19.1% did not meet appropriate standards such as width, and 6.2% were places inaccessible to wheelchairs. In addition, the installation rates of other convenience facilities were also low: entrance ramp safety bars (49%), civil service reception desks (42.4%), Braille forms (5.3%), sign language interpretation guidance (34.6%), and magnifiers (37.8%).

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