7 out of 10 Seoul Citizens Say "School Violence and Juvenile Crime Are Very Serious, Police Should Actively Intervene"

Stalking, Dating Violence, and Other Crimes Against Women "Overall Not Safe"
Biggest Threats When Using Public Transportation Like Subways and Buses Are "Late-Night Crimes, Assault Disputes, Sexual Harassment"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seven out of ten Seoul citizens consider school violence among adolescents to be a very serious problem and believe that the police should actively intervene in violent acts such as assault and extortion. Additionally, crimes targeting women, such as dating violence, are generally perceived as unsafe, and crimes involving residential intrusion targeting single-person, female, and elderly households are also recognized as serious, indicating a need to reorganize the police response system.

On the 5th, the Seoul Metropolitan Autonomous Police Commission conducted a public opinion survey titled “Establishing a Seoul-type Autonomous Police Image that Approaches Citizens,” targeting 1,000 citizens, and released the results reflecting these findings. The survey was commissioned by the Seoul Metropolitan Government to the polling agency Embrain Public and was conducted via a web survey from December 10 to 13 last year, targeting citizens aged 19 and older. The confidence level was 95%, with a sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points.

The survey results showed that citizens perceive school violence among adolescents as a serious issue (69.3%). In particular, citizens believe that the police should actively intervene in school violence issues such as assault (90.9%) and extortion (83.8%). Furthermore, 72.0% responded that police intervention is necessary for cyber violence as well. This is interpreted as reflecting the increase in online group bullying problems due to reduced face-to-face classes caused by COVID-19.

However, trust in the police’s school violence response system was low, with only 11.7% expressing trust compared to 46.0% who did not trust it, more than four times higher, indicating an urgent need to improve the police’s school violence response system. The response that “various social crimes are exploited due to the increase in runaway adolescents” reached 68.9%, and considering that “increase in youth crime” was mainly cited as a situation where people feel threatened about safety, reorganization is necessary.

Moreover, citizens generally feel unsafe regarding crimes targeting women, such as dating violence and stalking. Regarding domestic violence crimes, child abuse was perceived as a more serious problem than abuse of women, the elderly, or the disabled.

Next, the most serious safety threat within apartment complexes was identified as “inadequate security equipment and systems (45.1%),” followed by “security management gaps due to increased visits by outsiders (31.1%),” and “concerns about acquaintance crimes within apartment complexes (23.8%)” had the lowest response rate. This is analyzed as a result of increased anxiety about security within apartment complexes due to increased external service use during COVID-19. In particular, a high proportion (55.8%) considered residential intrusion crimes targeting single-person, female, and elderly households as “serious,” indicating the need to strengthen crime prevention activities for residential intrusion.

Biggest Threat When Using Public Transportation: Crime Occurrence During Late Night Hours

The biggest threat to safety when using public transportation was “crime occurrence during late night hours (26.3% average of 1st and 2nd priority),” followed by “assault disputes (25.5% average of 1st and 2nd priority),” and “sexual harassment on subways and buses (18.7% average of 1st and 2nd priority).”

Regarding safety threats related to automobile driving, “drunk driving (32.05% average of 1st and 2nd priority)” ranked highest, followed by “retaliatory and reckless driving (19.4% average of 1st and 2nd priority),” and “speeding (12.6% average of 1st and 2nd priority).” For motorcycle, bicycle, and kickboard driving, concerns about contact accidents due to sudden appearances accounted for 38.4%, 32.2%, and 30.1% (average of 1st and 2nd priority), respectively, making them the most significant safety threats.

Regarding urgent measures for the smooth operation of safety regulations in school zones, “strengthening speed control enforcement (22.9% average of 1st and 2nd priority),” “conducting safety education for elementary school students (22.7% average of 1st and 2nd priority),” and “maintenance of traffic safety facilities around schools (21.4% average of 1st and 2nd priority)” were relatively high.

Need to Expand Promotion of the Autonomous Police System

Meanwhile, at least 60.3% of respondents said they had “heard of” the autonomous police system, accounting for the majority, but only 6.0% said they “know it well,” indicating a need for active promotion. Regarding the positive functions of the autonomous police system, more than half agreed with all questions, including “being able to respond more quickly to emergencies in daily life (71.3%),” “efficient execution of activities tailored to local circumstances (70.0%),” and “security and administration centered on Seoul citizens (66.6%).”

Additionally, respondents most frequently identified “local patrol and installation/operation of crime prevention facilities (30.8%)” as the autonomous police duties that should be especially strengthened, followed by “prevention of crimes and protection of victims related to single-person households, children, domestic violence, and sexual violence (25.8%).” Chairman Kim Hak-bae said, “Based on these valuable opinions from citizens, we plan to strive to provide customized security services that citizens can feel,” and added, “We will focus on promotional activities to raise citizens’ awareness and understanding of the autonomous police system.”

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