CCTV brings down 5 violent crimes in school zones and parks

CCTV brings down 5 violent crimes in school zones and parks. September. 18, 2015 07:13. min@donga.com.

The closed circuit television (CCTV) has played an important role in arresting Kim Il-gon, a suspect of “trunk murder.” The CCTV footage showed Kim who was wondering around the crime scene and disappeared after changing his outfit at a nearby market, which allowed the police to narrow down the dragnet by figuring out his identity and whereabouts.

As shown in the case, the CCTV is the “principal contributor” for solving violent crimes. According to Ministry of Public Safety and Security and National Police Agency, the number of culprits who were arrested with the support of the CCTV grew 83.8 percents. Considering only the five violent crimes such as murder, robbery and sexual assault, the number increased by whopping 108 percents from 539 in 2013 to 1,121 in 2014. The CCTV turned out to be effective not just for solving crimes but preventing them as well. With newly-installed 4,132 CCTVs in school zones and park in 2014, the number of the five violent crimes dropped by 26.6 percents from 2479 during the first half of 2013 to 1,820 this year. Murder cases decreased from seven to five and robbery from 14 to five. The sexual assaults (24 percents), burglary (34 percents) and violence (19 percents) decreased as well.

The CCTVs turned out to be relatively more effective in big cities. Unlike Seoul that saw merely 5 percents of decrease, most of metropolitan cities such as Busan (47 percents), Daejeon (44 percents) and Inchoen (38 percents) enjoyed higher reduction of violent crimes. Gyeonggi Province also witnessed high reduction of 47 percents. On the other hands, the number of violent crimes in Gangwon Province, South Chungcheong Province, North and South Jeolla Provinces, North Gyeongsang Province and Jeju Province increased by 43 percents from 160 cases to 229. “It has been analyzed the CCTVS played bigger role in disclosing crimes than preventing them since the crime frequency is lower in farming and fishing communities,” sources from the Ministry explained. The Ministry and the Agency plan to install more CCTVs in school zones and parks.