Police to Guard School Routes 365 Days a Year... Launch of Public-Private-Police Safety Network

6,614 People, Including Postal Workers and Taekwondo Instructors, Join the Effort
"Mobile CCTVs" to Monitor Entire Neighborhoods

The police are launching a full-scale collaborative security system involving the public, private sector, and law enforcement to strengthen safety measures for children on their way to and from school.

On April 23, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced that it had signed a "Children's School Route Safety Guard" Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Seoul Regional Post Office, Seoul Taekwondo Association, and hy Co., Ltd., and that it would work to establish a safety network along school routes. A total of 6,614 people will participate as safety guards, including 2,886 postal workers, officials from 1,236 Taekwondo academies, and 2,492 Fresh Managers.

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Yonhap News Agency

These safety guards will patrol neighborhoods during school commute hours and after-school periods, acting as "mobile CCTVs." Promotional stickers reading "Seoul Police Security Partner, School Route Safety Guard" will be attached to vehicles and electric carts. They will regularly check the areas around school routes, including alleyways. The aim is to create a crime prevention environment in places frequented by students, such as academy districts and residential neighborhoods.

In addition, if any dangerous situation is discovered, they will immediately report it to 112 and protect the child until they can move to a safe place. They will also work to identify and improve crime or accident risk factors along school routes and near schools, for example, by recommending the installation of emergency bells or streetlights. The police plan to strengthen real-time response by linking with CCTV control centers and will also provide crime prevention education for participants.

This initiative is part of a comprehensive government-wide strategy to ensure the safety of children on their way to and from school. The core of the plan is to utilize community-based personnel to address the limitations of the previous police-centered approach. The police noted that there are manpower constraints to continuously monitoring all routes children take, such as alleyways and academy districts, so they have established a cooperative system with professionals who move through these spaces as part of their daily routines.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency expects that this collaborative model will help reduce blind spots along the entirety of school routes, which were previously difficult to monitor with police resources alone. Commissioner Park Jeongbo of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency stated, "Through cooperation with various organizations, we will strive to create an environment where children can move about more safely."

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