Establishing Early Detection System for Missing Person Prevention with Yangcheon Police Station and Yangcheon U-Integrated Control Center... Providing Wristwatch-Type and Shoe Insole-Type Devices Based on Personal Preference, Utilizing GPS Tracking Devices
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Yangcheon-gu (Mayor Kim Soo-young) will collaborate with Yangcheon Police Station to implement a smart guardian distribution project, a wandering detection device to prevent missing cases of people with developmental disabilities and dementia patients, starting in May.
According to statistics from the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, over the past three years, there have been a total of 123,878 missing person reports involving children, people with developmental disabilities, and dementia patients. Among them, 24,319 were people with developmental disabilities (77 still missing, 141 deceased), and 36,882 were dementia patients (15 still missing, 345 deceased). In Yangcheon-gu, out of 467 missing cases reported in the past three years, 190 cases (41%) involved people with developmental disabilities, and 277 cases (59%) involved dementia patients.
In particular, since wandering or going missing among people with developmental disabilities and dementia patients can lead to fatal outcomes such as death, safety devices that can prevent their disappearance and enable early detection in emergencies are urgently needed.
Accordingly, the district plans to provide smart guardians to a total of 558 individuals, including people with developmental disabilities recommended by local disability welfare facilities and community service centers, habitual missing persons reported to the Yangcheon Police Station (Missing Persons Investigation Team), and dementia patients registered at the Yangcheon Dementia Safety Center, using a budget of 100 million KRW secured through selection in the Seoul Smart City support project.
The smart guardian being distributed this time is a watch-type GPS tracking device developed by SK Telecom’s IoT division, which can be used for an average of 7 days on a single charge. Three safe zones can be preset, and if the wearer leaves these zones, a message is sent to the guardian and administrator, enabling real-time response. For those who strongly resist wearing the watch-type smart guardian, a Safe Insole that can be attached to their usual shoes, combined with the smart guardian, will also be provided.
The district stated that real-time location tracking through the smart guardian, video monitoring by the U-Yangcheon Integrated Control Center, and collaboration with Yangcheon Police Station will help in the early discovery of missing persons.
To enhance the completeness of the project operation, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for missing prevention and search of people with developmental disabilities and dementia patients is also being prepared with Yangcheon Police Station.
Seo Jeong-soon, Chief of Yangcheon Police Station, said, “Ahead of the launch of the autonomous police, we will strengthen cooperation with the district office to establish a support system for ‘socially vulnerable’ groups such as people with developmental disabilities and dementia patients. Each field officer will devote their utmost effort and sincerity to quickly find missing persons, with the heart of the missing persons’ families.”
Kim Soo-young, Mayor of Yangcheon-gu, said, “Usually, it takes about 12 hours on average to find a missing person after a disappearance occurs, but with the use of wandering detection devices, it takes an average of 56 minutes, so the early detection effect is expected to be very significant.” He added, “I hope the smart guardian distribution project will be an opportunity to realize a safe and smart Yangcheon for everyone.”
Meanwhile, the district plans to develop a control program capable of monitoring the location information of the smart guardians at the Yangcheon-gu U-Smart Control Center. Those who wish to receive a smart guardian can apply by May 31 through their local community service center.
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