A Policeman’s Rape Habit

A policeman was arrested for kidnapping, raping and robbing women in the district near his police station yesterday. He threatened victims that he would kill their families and he forced them to withdraw money from banks after raping them. He allegedly committed these brutal crimes many times.

His heinous crimes have exposed a flaw in the police personnel system.

Heinous crimes-

Police in Ilsan requested an arrest warrant for the policeman in question–only known as his surname Lee-on rape and theft charges on September 20.

Lee said that he threatened a woman who was starting her car in a public parking lot with a knife and broke into the car. He forced her to drive toward a park nearby the lake in Ilsan and raped her. He then withdrew 6.19 million won using her bank card.

On January 25, he kidnapped a woman in the same place and stole 9.5 million won from her by using her credit card. On February 8, he kidnapped a woman to steal 3.25 million won and coerced her into sex. He acknowledged that he got in the back seat of a car with the woman and threatened her with knife.

He forced victims to drive to banks and withdraw money through their credit cards, avoiding being recorded by CCTV cameras. By stealing their identity cards, he threatened to kill their families if they reported the crime to the police.

Additional crimes under investigation-

Police arrested him in another public parking lot at 8:00 p.m. on September 19. He was about to kidnap another woman.

When police officers across the street found him and ran to the scene, the perpetrator had already tied up the victim’s arms and was about to leave. That happened in just three to four minutes, showing his sophisticated skill at his craft. He attempted to run away, but was soon caught.

In addition to the revealed crimes, he also attempted to commit two similar crimes, but they ended up in failure as the women managed to run away.

Fourteen cases of rape and theft have been committed by the same person in cities of Goyang, Paju, Uijeongbu and Yangju from 2004 to 2006. The police are conducting DNA tests to find out whether they are related to this case with the help of the National Institute of Scientific Investigation (NISI).

Flaw in police personnel management-

Lee worked as a policeman in 1989 and was dismissed for bribe taking in 1997. But he turned out to be innocent and resumed duty.

Lee saw most of his wages confiscated after he had put them down as collateral for a loan for his brother. That led him to be on the list of those receiving special attention internally in the police department.

That is why his boss is required to report Lee’s performance to head of office. But his boss was not aware of the repeated crimes.

The head of police in Gyeong-gi held three immediate bosses responsible for the crimes and fired them. The National Police Agency has also launched an investigation.