[Report] ‘Halloween’ police special forces and armored vehicles in Itaewon… Crowd management effort

A black shepherd ran through the streets, sniffing. Police special forces wearing red berets followed them.

A huge commando armored vehicle appeared in the middle of Itaewon-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Citizens who spotted the armored vehicle slowed down and raised their cell phones to take pictures.

Seoul Yongsan Police Station began preventive patrols in the Itaewon area on the afternoon of the 30th, a day before Halloween.

Eight police special forces, along with two explosive detection dogs, walked around the World Food Culture Street to check for risk factors.

As they walked around the streets, voices were heard saying, “What’s going on?” and “It’s the police.”

The police explained that exposing armed officers and equipment to citizens can be expected to have a crime prevention effect.

Ahn Dae-seon, Yongsan Police Station's security division chief, who organized the preventive patrol that day, said of the armored vehicles, "We deployed them to have a visible crime prevention effect."

The police, fire department, and Yongsan-gu Office predicted that since the 31st, the day of Halloween, was a weekend, there would be more crowds in the Itaewon area than last year.

Yongsan Police Station in Seoul plans to mobilize 370 police officers on this day to manage the crowd in conjunction with Yongsan-gu Office and fire authorities.

In particular, the World Food Culture Street and the six sloping alleys leading to it were considered major risk areas and it was decided to intensively manage them.

Ahn Dae-seon, head of the security department, said, "Last year, up to 30,000 people gathered around Itaewon Station. This year, since Halloween falls on a Saturday, we expect and are preparing for the crowd to increase further."

The police predicted that the largest crowd would gather between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. the next day, and decrease from 3 to 4 a.m.

Accordingly, to relieve crowding, vehicular traffic will be completely controlled from Itaewon 119 Safety Center to Noksapyeong Square from 6 p.m. and the roadway will be opened as a pedestrian space.

Last year, we decided to close the road at around 10:40 PM after checking the level of congestion on site, but this year, we finalized the control policy in advance.

The purpose is to reduce density by securing pedestrian space even before crowds gather.

If the crowd density increases, the inflow of crowds on both sides of the World Food Culture Street will be blocked and one-way traffic will be applied to the sloping alleys.

Depending on the congestion situation, we will also consider operating separate entrances to Itaewon Station or passing through without stopping.

The on-site joint situation room uses intelligent closed-circuit (CC) TV to determine crowd density in real time.

Yongsan-gu Office is analyzing crowd density by zone with six intelligent CCTVs installed around the World Food Culture Street. Since the 23rd, three additional CCTVs have been installed on the rooftop of the Hamilton Hotel to monitor the flow of people throughout the street.

Baek In-gwan, head of the safety and disaster department and safety planning team at Yongsan-gu Office, explained, “We use the actual on-site situation confirmed by CCTV as the main indicator and use other indicators as a supplement.”

In the joint situation room, liaison officers from related organizations, such as police and fire, are stationed and share the situation in real time. Relevant organizations held four joint meetings ahead of Halloween to review the response system.

To prevent violent crimes and terrorism, the police deploys 7 teams of detectives, 20 members of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's metropolitan prevention patrol unit, 8 patrol cars, and 10 police special forces.

The special forces plan to respond immediately if a report is received or a dangerous situation occurs during preventive patrol.

The police urged caution, saying that careless use of simulated firearms or knives for cosplay in crowded places may result in punishment according to relevant laws.