[Exclusive] Yongsan 112 Situation Room, 'Halloween Day' Effectively This Year's First Control Tower

Last Year’s ‘Autonomous Police System Implementation’ Led to Halloween Event Preparedness at 112 Situation Room
2020-2021 Gathering Ban Due to COVID-19, Seoul Police Mobile Unit Mobilized
First Event This Year Managed Crowd of 130,000 with About 30 Police Station Personnel

The "Itaewon Tragedy Victims Memorial Candlelight Vigil" is being held on the road near Seoul Plaza on the 5th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] It has been confirmed that the Seoul Yongsan Police Station 112 Comprehensive Security Situation Room (112 Situation Room) effectively took on the role of the 'control tower' for the Itaewon Halloween Day event for the first time this year.

According to a comprehensive report by Asia Economy on the 7th, from 2015 to 2020, the Itaewon Halloween Day event was organized by the Yongsan Police Station's Community Safety Division (Saengan Division). From 2015 to 2019, the Itaewon Halloween Day event attracted over 180,000 people annually according to police estimates, but no crowd crush incidents occurred. This year, about 130,000 people gathered in Itaewon according to police estimates.

The 112 Situation Room has been in charge of organizing and preparing for the Itaewon Halloween Day event since last year; however, both last year and 2020 were periods when gathering bans were imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency level, one riot police company was deployed in 2020 and three riot police companies last year to encourage crowd dispersal and return home. The Yongsan 112 Situation Room did not prepare at the pre-COVID-19 level. In fact, the tragedy occurred during the first event where the 112 Situation Room took on the control tower role.

It has been confirmed that the reason the Community Safety Division, which had been in charge of the Halloween Day event for several years, was excluded from last year was due to the 'Autonomous Police System' implemented from January last year.

With the adjustment of investigative authority between prosecution and police and the implementation of the Autonomous Police System, the Police Act was completely revised in January last year to the 'Act on the Organization and Operation of the National Police and Autonomous Police.' The 'Ordinance on the Organization of the National Police Agency and Its Affiliated Agencies,' which adjusts the organization and personnel of the National Police Agency, was also completely revised and implemented.

As a result, the 112 Situation Room took over the management of personnel from district police stations and police boxes that belonged to the Community Safety Division, and naturally, it also took charge of the Itaewon Halloween Day event.

It is known that the Yongsan 112 Situation Room's administrative team planned the preparations for this year's Itaewon Halloween Day event, but the inexperienced 112 Situation Room revealed several weaknesses.

In 2020, when the Yongsan Community Safety Division was in charge of the Halloween Day event, they anticipated that crowds would not concentrate due to COVID-19 but still prepared a plan for 'safety accident situations such as crowd crush and falls due to population density.' From 2015 to 2019, various measures were implemented, such as requesting support from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's security division for personnel to manage traffic congestion on the first lane of Itaewon-ro caused by large crowds from the Hamilton Hotel area to the Itaewon Fire Center, and installing water bottle police lines.

However, starting this year, despite predicting a large crowd for the 'No Mask' Halloween Day event after three years, the 112 Situation Room did not establish any significant crowd crush prevention plans.

Additionally, the 112 Situation Room was inexperienced in managing personnel deployed for this year's Itaewon Halloween Day event. On the day of the tragedy, Yongsan deployed 137 officers to Itaewon, with 11 officers assigned to the Itaewon police box and 32 police officers under the command of the 112 Situation Room from the police box, including flexible duty personnel. Meanwhile, about 100 officers, including 50 from the Criminal Division, 4 from the Women and Youth Division, 2 from the Foreign Affairs Division, and 9 from the Community Safety Division, excluding district police officers, were present at the scene but failed to respond effectively.

The document titled '2022 Itaewon Halloween Day Security Situation Analysis and Comprehensive Security Measures Report' prepared by Yongsan Police Station states that a Halloween Situation Response Team was formed under the chairmanship of the 112 Situation Room chief to perform the control tower role, including on-site situation management and personnel operation. Nevertheless, the 112 Situation Room failed to utilize personnel from the Criminal Division and others for crowd management and attempted to manage the Halloween Day event, which attracted 130,000 people, using only police box personnel.

In the upcoming investigation and inspection by the National Police Agency's Special Investigation Headquarters, the preparation process for the Halloween Day event and personnel management by the 112 Situation Room will be reviewed to verify whether the control tower role was properly performed.

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