10 Years of School Police Officers, Decrease in School Violence Victims... Recent Surge in Youth Drug Use and Gambling

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 28th that it held a 'Seminar for Reestablishing the Role of SPO' on the 22nd to mark the 10th anniversary of the launch of School Police Officers (SPO).

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency SPO Seminar.
Photo by Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency

At this seminar, a consensus was formed on the need to 'select and focus' on crimes that are highly detrimental to youth development, such as drugs, gambling, and school violence. In particular, opinions were presented on addictive crimes related to drugs and gambling, including ▲strengthening expertise ▲complementing linkage systems with specialized institutions ▲establishing a focused response system through pattern analysis (gender, age, types of games, etc.).

Since its launch on February 20, 2013, with 208 officers, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's SPO has been responsible for responding to school violence and youth-related crimes. According to the police, before the introduction of SPO in 2012, the school violence victim response rate was 14.2%, which decreased by 12.2 percentage points to 2.0% last year over ten years. The number of arrests related to school violence also dropped from 3,257 to 2,014 during the same period.

However, the police diagnosed that new issues are emerging, such as drug crimes targeting youth and secondary crimes like school violence and voice phishing to raise funds for gambling, exemplified by the drug beverage incident in the Gangnam academy district in April this year. From January to October this year, the number of youths arrested in Seoul for drug and gambling crimes was 183 and 28, respectively, representing increases of 297.8% and 154.5% compared to the same period last year. Furthermore, while traditional school violence involving physical and bodily harm has decreased, verbal violence such as defamation and insults, as well as sexual violence, have increased, highlighting the need for efforts to respond to the changing security environment.

Kim Kwang-ho, Commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, said, "The security environment surrounding youth is rapidly changing day by day. To respond properly, it is necessary to continuously improve the response system considering the changed security environment such as drugs, gambling, and cybercrime, and to steadily strengthen the capabilities of SPO. We will do our best to ensure that SPO can establish itself as a true companion for youth."

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