Catch 'Subway Crimes'... Seoul City and Police Agency Strengthen Joint Patrols

Joint Patrols at Top 11 Crime-Prone Historical Sites
'112 Emergency Bells' Installed at 590 Locations by June This Year

#. On August 5 last year, university student A opened a chat room on a gaming site saying, 'I will go to Seoul Station with a knife.' Although the crime did not actually occur, A was prosecuted without detention on charges of intimidation and was sentenced to a suspended prison term. The problem was that just a few days after A's 'threat,' actual stabbing rampage incidents occurred in various places. As 'random threat warnings' and real crimes occurred consecutively, subway users became anxious.

Amid the surge of subway crime warnings such as murder threats, Seoul City and the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency decided to strengthen cooperation by conducting 'joint patrols' focusing on stations where crimes frequently occur. Considering that it is difficult for the jurisdictional police to respond promptly when an accident occurs on a moving subway, a system will also be established to quickly share reports received through 112 with the subway operating agencies.

On the 19th, Seoul City and Seoul Metro announced that, together with the subway police unit under the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, they will conduct joint patrols twice a day targeting the top 11 stations with the highest crime rates. The patrols will be conducted for about an hour around 7:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. at Seoul Station, Gyodae Station, Sindorim Station, Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station, Jongno 3-ga Station, Nowon Station, Sadang Station, Hapjeong Station, Konkuk University Station, Express Bus Terminal Station, and Jamsil Station. To prevent crimes in daily life subway areas, police officers from local precincts and police boxes will also strengthen patrols at subway stations in entertainment districts and other areas vulnerable to crime exposure.

A Seoul City official explained, "Over the past year, there have been numerous 'random crimes' and 'murder threat' warnings targeting unspecified many in relation to the subway, which has increased citizens' anxiety." Since the 'random stabbing rampage' near Sillim Station last year that resulted in the death of a pedestrian, there have been continuous incidents and accidents such as online posts mentioning subway stations to warn of crimes, or passengers mistakenly thinking a crime occurred inside the subway and getting injured while disembarking.

To prevent such confusion and crime occurrences, Seoul City and the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency have decided to establish a system to promptly share situations with each urban railway operating agency's control center when important subway crimes are reported via the '112 emergency number.' Considering the nature of moving subways, even if the police are dispatched after a case reported to 112 is notified to the jurisdictional precinct, the reported train may have already left the station, making response difficult. Currently, direct phone numbers of control centers for subway lines 1 to 9, the Ui-Sinseol Line, and the Sillim Line operating agencies are registered with the 112 Integrated Security Situation Room. In the future, control center numbers for national railway operating agencies such as Korail and the Shinbundang Line in the Seoul section will also be additionally registered to share report situations.

Additionally, Seoul City plans to select 590 crime-vulnerable locations such as women's restrooms inside subway stations and install and operate '112 emergency bells' that allow direct police reporting in emergencies by the end of June this year. Yoon Jong-jang, Director of Seoul City Urban Transportation Office, said, "To prevent crimes and respond quickly to incidents and accidents in the Seoul subway, we will do our best to create a safe subway environment in cooperation with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, along with facility improvements such as emergency bells."

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