6018 Theft Cases Last Year
71.25% Surge in One Year
High Incidence of Juvenile and Child Crimes
As the number of 'unmanned stores,' which have recently gained attention as new startup items, increases, theft incidents targeting them are rapidly rising. Domestic unmanned stores are spreading across various industries such as convenience stores, ice cream shops, and self-service ramen specialty stores. Due to the nature of unmanned stores, where no staff are present, security relies solely on closed-circuit television (CCTV), making them vulnerable to crime. The police's arrest rate for theft suspects in unmanned stores remains in the 60% range.
According to data obtained by Asia Economy on the 19th through the office of Jo Eun-hee, a member of the People Power Party, the number of theft cases at unmanned stores nationwide last year was recorded at 6,018. The police began separately classifying and tallying theft incidents at unmanned stores starting from March 2021. From March to December last year, the number of theft cases at unmanned stores was 3,514, a 71% surge compared to the same period the previous year. By region, the cases were as follows: Seoul 1,428, southern Gyeonggi 1,363, Incheon 452, Busan 447, northern Gyeonggi 377, Gyeongnam 348, Chungnam 247, Daejeon 244, Chungbuk 211, Daegu 171, Gangwon 130, Ulsan 129, Gwangju 110, Jeonnam 94, Jeju 75, Gyeongbuk 70, Jeonbuk 66, and Sejong 56.
Among these, 4,127 cases resulted in the arrest of the suspects, with an arrest rate of 68%. More than three out of ten thieves escaped without being caught. Despite the rapid increase in various crimes such as theft targeting the absence of on-site staff, property damage, occupation of business premises, and illegal dumping of trash, there are no effective preventive measures other than CCTV installation. This results in an inability to prevent crimes and limitations in tracking suspects.
The number of minor theft cases at unmanned stores is estimated to be even higher. This is because if the offender is a juvenile offender (aged 10 to 14), the case is not registered as a criminal case. In fact, last month in Incheon, an incident occurred where middle school students stole cash from a kiosk inside an unmanned ice cream store during early morning hours and fled. It took them less than five minutes to use scissors to remove the cash from the kiosk. Representative Jo said, “It is a reality that crimes targeting unmanned stores are increasing recently,” and added, “There is a need to strengthen police investigations, conduct focused patrols of unmanned stores, and enhance measures such as youth crime prevention education in collaboration with schools.”
The police are preparing countermeasures such as diagnosing vulnerabilities of unmanned stores and improving the environment. They are strengthening patrols in crime-prone areas proactively by utilizing crime risk prediction and analysis systems, sharing crime occurrence cases and prevention techniques with store owners, and supporting the posting of warning stickers about crime punishments and notices for focused patrol zones.
Professor Lim Jun-tae of the Department of Police Administration at Dongguk University said, “It is necessary to strengthen access control by implementing systems such as pre-registering credit cards before entering unmanned stores.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
