Police to Replace Aging Shields and Protective Gear... Improving Equipment for Crowd Control

Police are on guard duty to control the number of participants in the rally. Photo by Mun Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The police will retire outdated shields and protective gear used at rally and protest sites. The aim is to move away from the current manpower-centered approach of physically blocking crowds by improving equipment.

According to the police on the 26th, the National Police Agency has prepared a development plan for rally response equipment and is conducting research services. This plan includes ▲development of body protection equipment ▲expansion of safety barrier equipment ▲development and distribution of new police lines (P/L, police line).

The shields and protective gear to be developed and distributed by the police will apply new materials and be ergonomically designed. The existing shields and protective gear were introduced in 2006-2007 and have been criticized for being heavy and outdated.

Nine trailer-type safety fences and four multipurpose broadcast lighting vehicles will also be introduced. The police expect these to compensate for the shortage of personnel following the abolition of auxiliary police.

The police lines installed around rally sites will also change. Steel police lines with improved blocking performance (height 1.35m × width 1.8m) and foldable police lines that are easy to move and install (height 1.25m × width 6m) will be distributed.

While conducting research services, the police plan to inspect the operational status of equipment held by each police unit in the second half of this year to realize these distribution plans. Among these, the new police lines and trailer-type safety fences are scheduled to be introduced within this year.