Incheon Police Agency Strengthens On-Site Response... Disbands and Reduces Mounted Police Unit and Tourist Police Unit

Incheon Police Agency Mounted Police Unit
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] The Incheon Mounted Police Unit, established to promote the image of Incheon as the gateway city of South Korea, will be disbanded after seven years.

On the 1st, the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency announced that it will disband the Mounted Police Unit to strengthen on-site response, reduce the size of the Tourist Police Unit and the Ara Canal Police Unit, and reassign the personnel to frontline duties.

The Tourist Police Unit will be reduced from 18 to 12 members, and the Ara Canal Police Unit from 7 to 2 members. The disbanded Mounted Police Unit had 8 members.

The personnel reduced through this reorganization will be reassigned to field response departments during the personnel reshuffle in the first half of next year.

The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency decided on the organizational restructuring after four months of internal discussions and consultations with the Autonomous Police Committee, comprehensively considering the operational performance of each police unit and field opinions.

Established in 2015 to promote Incheon, the Mounted Police Unit participated in major local events and operated horseback riding experience programs for underprivileged groups.

Additionally, the Ara Canal Police Unit was established in 2011 in line with the opening of the Gyeongin Ara Canal to respond to new security demands such as international and onboard crimes and safety accidents.

The Tourist Police Unit has been performing duties such as cracking down on illegal activities and guiding foreign tourists at Incheon Airport and major tourist sites in Incheon city since 2014.

An official from the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency stated, "In the rapidly changing security environment, faster and more accurate on-site response is required, but realistically, new recruitment is difficult, so we aimed for efficient personnel management through this organizational restructuring."