Preventing a Second Itaewon Disaster... Police Revise Crowd Control Measures

On the first anniversary of the Itaewon tragedy and ahead of Halloween Day, the police have introduced a newly revamped crowd management safety policy.

On the 25th, the National Police Agency announced the launch of the ‘Police Grand Innovation Task Force (TF)’ to promote the establishment of a rapid situation management system, enhancement of on-site response capabilities, and improvements in laws and regulations.

First, the police will consider it a repeated report if three or more reports are received within one hour within a 50-meter radius of a certain location, and will take preemptive action. This measure takes into account the difficulty for individual reporters to recognize multiple similar reports from many reporters, as was the case in the Itaewon tragedy.

City and provincial police agencies will organize multipurpose duty mobile units on standby for rapid personnel mobilization in case of dangerous situations. Each region will independently organize multipurpose duty mobile units according to local conditions, and when an incident or accident occurs, the situation team leader of each city or provincial police agency will directly mobilize and command them.

The rank of the situation team leader at city and provincial police agencies is also being upgraded from superintendent to senior superintendent to strengthen the response capabilities of on-site commanders. In cases of major incidents or accidents, they have also independently developed and introduced the ‘112 Incident Transmission App,’ which automatically transmits related information to the mobile phones of commanders and others.

Along with this, the National Police Agency and the Fire Agency plan to dispatch mutual liaison officers to each situation room for crowd management, sharing 112 and 119 report monitoring and risk sign information to ensure thorough initial response. According to the revision of the Disaster and Safety Management Basic Act, joint response requests between police and fire services will also mandate on-site dispatch.

Additionally, the police plan to secure sufficient pedestrian pathways by controlling staggered vehicle traffic according to crowd density. In particular, during this Halloween Day event, one lower lane will be secured as an emergency vehicle-only passage to manage traffic flow and prepare for emergencies.