Despite notorious criminal, neighborhood grows safer

Social Affairs

Published: 03 Sep. 2023, 07:00 Updated: 03 Sep. 2023, 19:18

Despite notorious criminal, neighborhood grows safer

The Ansan Danwon Police Precinct's special public safety center, right, is located right in front of a multi-unit residence where child rapist Cho Doo-soon lives. [SON SUNG-BAE]

Residents living in Ansan, Gyeonggi, where child rapist Cho Doo-soon resides, say they feel the area has become safer due to increased surveillance.

According to residents living in Danwon District in Ansan, where Cho settled in 2020 after serving a 12-year prison term, the town has become quieter and safer with police officers patrolling the area and probation officers watching Cho 24 hours daily.

“When Cho was just released from prison, there was a lot of noise because of people coming to the area and police officers patrolling the place, but it became quiet after two to three weeks and has been so ever since,” according to a 32-year-old resident surnamed Kim who runs a convenience store only about 100 meters (328 miles) from the multi-unit house where 71-year-old Cho lives.

Another resident in the neighborhood told the JoongAng Ilbo many residents wanted to leave the area at the time due to the noise.

“But now there are no empty houses in the neighborhood because the area is now known to have police officers patrolling the area more frequently than any other places,” a 43-year-old construction worker surnamed Hong said.

Thanks to a patrol car and special surveillance booths in the area, the neighborhood is safer than ever, Hong added.

According to Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency, the number of crime reports submitted to the Ansan Danwon Police Precinct dropped 16.9 percent from 15,173 in 2020 to 12,612 in 2021. Cho was released from prison on Dec. 12, 2020.

The number of reports of five major crimes — murder, theft, rape, robbery and assault — dropped 20.8 percent in the same period. Police attribute the fall to their deployment of security personnel and the increased facilities to deter crime in the area.

Ahead of Cho’s release, six police officers patrolled the district throughout the day in teams of two.

They also installed an additional 21 surveillance cameras in the area.

A booth installed by the Ansan city government to let security guards stay and guard the neighborhood of Cho Doo-soon [SON SUNG-BAE]

The city government of Ansan also dispatched security personnel to guard the area around the clock and built small booths that allowed security personnel to oversee the area.

However, police believe that cooperating with local governments is necessary as there are limitations to relying solely on police forces.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency and the city government of Ansan held a meeting on Aug. 28 to draw up measures for crime victims' treatment and support, as well as preventive measures against crimes.

During the meeting, discussions were held on increasing the budget for nighttime patrol activities.

Measures such as real-time sharing of CCTV footage between local government control centers and the police's 112 situation room, as well as increasing the number of surveillance cameras, were also brought up at the meeting.

"Based on an organic cooperation system with Ansan city, I will promote the activation of community security and strive to successfully expand the first-ever collaborative standardization model nationwide, throughout the entire province," Hong Ki-hyun, commissioner general of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency, said.

Ansan Mayor Lee Min-geun also emphasized, "It will not just be the police, but private sector patrol groups that work for citizen safety will also collectively respond to and focus on building a citizen safety model deterring serious crimes."

Experts stressed it is essential to make sure that these safety models prevent crimes.

“Residents may feel that their neighborhood is safer if they see many police officers roaming around, but at the same time might give the impression there are many incidents taking place in the area,” according to Kim Yeon-soo, a transdisciplinary security professor at Dongguk University.

“There is a need to meticulously analyze and study if these crime-preventive models can block every possible crime.”

Cho is responsible for one of the most infamous rape cases in Korea. On Dec. 11, 2008, he kidnapped an eight-year-old girl — to whom the media later gave the pseudonym Na-young — on her way to school in Ansan, Gyeonggi.

Cho took her into a toilet stall at a nearby church, strangled and beat her unconscious, then raped her. According to investigators at the time, he also tortured the girl in other ways.

Na-young subsequently underwent eight hours of surgery, but the rape and torture left around 80 percent of her lower organs completely dysfunctional.

BY SON SUNG-BAE, CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]