On the 27th at 1 am, in front of a club in Seomyeon 1st Street, Jin-gu, Busan. I followed four police officers belonging to the Seomyeon Police Station at the Busanjin Police Station in Busan. They passed through dozens of people gathered in a semicircle in an instant. It was a scene where a man in his 20s raised his fist at a man of a similar age while shouting and swearing. The man in his 20s shook off the police who were restraining him with his whole body and continued to quarrel with the other person. The situation was finally over in 20 minutes, but the police officer’s arm was red and swollen in the process of preventing it.
Around the same time, a report was received of a man in his 30s fiddling with people near an entertainment bar in Seomyeon. It was a report from a citizen saying they were concerned about a crime. Four staff members from the Seomyeon Police Station were immediately dispatched to the scene. The presence of a weapon was checked and action was taken.
And that’s not all. From the owner who reported blood to the police as a result of the assault, to the drunk who sexually harassed and sweared at the police officer and asked to contact his parents instead, the police department was busy with various complaints. Sergeant Eui-soo Ahn of the Seomyeon Police Station at the Busanjin Police Station, who was on night duty that day, said, “At 1:00 am on the weekend, Seomyeon is a battlefield.” The night of Seomyeon with them was hotter than the day. Beads of sweat quickly formed on Ahn’s forehead.
As social distancing due to Corona 19 was lifted, it was confirmed that the number of 112 reports in Busan, where tourists flock in summer, increased. In particular, Seomyeon, where entertainment districts are concentrated, becomes more chaotic than beaches due to violence and drunkenness. Police officers belonging to the Seomyeon Police Station, who are in charge of public order in the Seomyeon area, are in danger of their health due to the increasing number of duties every year.
According to the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency on the 28th, the number of 112 reports in Busan from June to July totaled 247,075, an increase of 12.8% (28,119 cases) from the same period in 2020. By type of report, crime reports, protective measures (drinkers), and maintenance of order were the most common. Looking at the trend of the number of 112 reports received this year, the police believe that the number of reports will be the highest in the last four years.
Among them, Seomyeon Police Station is the undisputed number one in the number of 112 calls in Busan. The Seomyeon Police Station has jurisdiction over Beomcheon-dong and Bujeon-dong, commonly known as Seomyeon 1st and 2nd Street. Seomyeon is the transportation center of Busan, with a lot of traffic and nightlife such as clubs and taverns. 112 reports are classified into 0 to 4 levels according to their urgency, but most of the reports received by the police are code 2, which requires on-site action by the police. However, there are many Code 1 cases that need to be dispatched first and dealt with urgently as soon as they are received. During the night shift on weekends, as many as 150 urgent reports are received at the Seomyeon Police Station, making it 24 hours안전놀이터 busier than other police substations.
Because of this situation, Seomyeon Police Station is notorious as a ‘workplace of death’. Police officers belonging to the Seomyeon Police Station suffer from heavy workload and stress, making them the number one police officer to avoid even within the Busan Police Department. In fact, from February of last year to June of last year, three employees of Seomyeon Police Station collapsed due to cerebral hemorrhage. One of them died in September last year while receiving treatment. All of them are reported to have had no chronic illness.
As the nationwide Do Not Ask weapon riots continued, special security activities were added, and the work of the district unit doubled. In particular, Seomyeon is a place where people are densely populated and the police always keep a close eye on it because it has been designated as a warning area for a weapon riot. As civil uneasiness grew due to a series of heinous crimes, and related reports increased, the district crew took on the task of patrolling the urban railway. However, a total of 17 people work at the weekend night shift, which is the busiest time for Seomyeon Police Station. Excluding vacationers, the actual number of employees is only 15. In the midst of the hectic reports of drunkenness and assault, the manpower has not changed and the work has doubled.
Baek Sang-oh, head of the Seomyeon District, who belongs to the Busanjin Police Station, said that when an incident occurs, the police force that is most closely related to public security is mobilized first. He said, “The Seomyeon Police Station is the busiest place in Busan, but the recent work has been aggravated, so the employees have no choice but to pour all their capabilities into their work.” ” he said.