Ⅰ. Guaranteeing the Fundamental Human Freedoms: 1. Right to Life and Personal Liberty
3) Police’s Insufficient Crime Prevention and Victim Protection
A) Series of Cases of the Police’s Insufficient Response During the End of 2021
Police’s field responsiveness is a key to securing reliability on their investigative
skills and the result of their investigation. It is directly related to the safety of
the people, and the people’s interest and expectations on the police’s field
responsiveness has increased, with the enactment of the ‘Punishment of the Stalking
Act.“ However, a series of cases showed problems with the police’s prevention of
crimes and protecting the victims in November 2021.
On Nov. 15, 2021, 3 family members were injured by a neighbor in Incheon. The
attacker lived above the victims, and they were fighting over floor noise. During
the incident, the police were already at the site in response to a floor noise report
and were taking statements from the victims. However, 2 police officers witnessed
the attacker injuring the victims using a deadly weapon but left the scene, without
trying to stop the attacker or protect the victims. They did not take proper
measures to protect the victims.
This case raised criticism on the improper responses of the police officers, and
the two police officers at the scene were dismissed. The victims’ families raised
complaints on the police’s response and the measures taken afterwards, and over
200,000 people agreed with the petition filed by the victims’ families. The police
apologized to the victims’ families on Dec. 3, 2021, and also stated that they
recognize this case as a structural and organizational issue, not just an issue for an
individual police officer.
In Nov. 2021, a woman under police protection for dating abuse and stalking was
killed. The woman had a restraining order within 100m and using the information
communications network against the assailant, and was issued with a smart-watch
on Nov. 7, 2021. However, the victim saw the assailant in her apartment building
on Nov. 19, 2021, and reported to the police using the smart-watch. However, the
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