Jeonnam Police Focus Intensively on Youth Vehicle Theft Prevention Activities

Most Vehicle Thefts Occur in Apartment Parking Lots, Zero Youth Vehicle Thefts If Car Doors Are Properly Locked

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] Although vehicle theft was expected to occur mostly on the streets, 51% actually took place in apartment parking lots. The method of the crime involved randomly pulling on car door handles to find unlocked vehicles and stealing cash or valuables inside.

Jeonnam Police announced on the 1st that they plan to conduct focused prevention activities against youth vehicle theft in collaboration with the Jeonnam Autonomous Police Committee.

Youth vehicle theft carries the risk of escalating into violent crimes such as quasi-robbery and also increases the risk of traffic accidents due to inexperienced driving.

Recently, youth vehicle theft and unlicensed driving have become nationwide issues, and in Jeonnam, there was a traffic accident in the fall of 2020 where three people died due to unlicensed driving by teenagers.

To prevent these risks, the Jeonnam Police Agency and the Jeonnam Autonomous Police Committee conducted a full investigation of 1,472 youth theft cases that occurred over the past two years and seven months.

As a result, vehicle theft accounted for the highest proportion at 46.5% (685 cases), followed by theft of items outside buildings, theft of items inside buildings, and theft from unmanned stores.

Regarding the high incidence of vehicle theft in apartment parking lots, a Jeonnam Police Agency official said, “When parking in apartments, people often feel psychologically secure and therefore do not lock their car doors or keep the keys inside the vehicle. Also, multiple vehicles can be targeted at once.”

Additionally, the Jeonnam Police Agency’s full investigation of youth theft cases confirmed a negative human network vicious cycle where Youth A and Youth B jointly committed vehicle theft, and then Youth B and Youth C committed further joint crimes.

Based on the findings from the full investigation, the Jeonnam Police Agency and the Jeonnam Autonomous Police Committee plan to focus on preventing youth vehicle theft.

To this end, the Jeonnam Police Agency will monitor all youth vehicle theft cases occurring in the jurisdiction, and school police officers at each police station will classify juvenile vehicle offenders into three stages (intensive management stage, mitigation stage, stabilization stage) for counseling and guidance.

They will also strengthen the “lock your car door” campaign targeting apartments and major commercial areas and reinforce cooperation systems with youth-related institutions such as the provincial government office, education office, and courts.

Jeonnam Police Agency (Chief of Police Lee Choong-ho) stated, “We will continue to develop customized policies reflecting local security conditions through detailed analysis of Jeonnam’s security situation,” and added, “We will strive to eradicate youth vehicle theft to prevent property damage to residents and to create a Jeonnam where youth grow up upright and healthy.”

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