“A person was killed even while wearing a smartwatch”… Gyeonggi Police National Inspection Office criticized the limits of protective measures

At the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee's audit of the Gyeonggi Southern and Northern Police Agency held on the 13th, lawmakers continued to criticize the smartwatches provided to victims of stalking and domestic violence, saying they were not performing their duties properly.

Representative Kim Young-bae of the Democratic Party of Korea pointed out, "The number of smartwatch payments doubled from about 11,000 in 2021 to about 22,000 last year, and half of them were domestic violence and stalking." He added, "Recently, there were three victims nationwide who were murdered despite receiving smartwatches, and they all occurred in the Gyeonggi region, including Namyangju, Seongnam, and Gwangju."

Rep. Kim pointed out, “Even though the National Police Agency headquarters recommended management of risk levels by dividing them into three levels, the Nambu Office has not properly implemented this, leading to a series of disasters.”

Rep. Chae Hyeon-il of the same party also mentioned the recent cases of related crime deaths that occurred in the jurisdiction and emphasized, "Smart watches were provided but not managed properly, resulting in the deaths of victims one after another, revealing a lack of security. We need a system to proactively assess risks and respond before the expiration of the deadline for protective measures such as access bans."

There were also calls for more direct and stronger control over perpetrators.

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Joo-min said, "The police are only limited to the convenient and easy measure of giving victims smartwatches," and urged, "The proportion of applications for 'retention' among the provisional measures targeting perpetrators was only 12.7% as of last year. In order to protect the lives of victims, we must actively take stronger measures, such as retaining perpetrators, depending on the case."

Rep. Jeong Chun-saeng of the Homeland Innovation Party strongly criticized the police's passive response to the victim's successive reports.

Rep. Jeong criticized, "In the Dongtan dating violence murder case, there were several signs of the victim asking for his life, but the police closed the scene on the pretext of reluctantly filling out a non-punishment application for fear of retaliation from the perpetrator."

He then pointed out loopholes in the system, saying, “Even though there is a profiler in the Southern Office, there has not even been an assessment of the risk of recidivism for those who are frequently reported.”

In response to this, Kim Hong-geun, acting head of the Gyeonggi Southern District Office, responded, “I think there were some shortcomings in the institutional protection system and police response,” and added, “We will closely review the points raised by lawmakers and come up with improvement measures.”