Chief of Hwaseong Dongtan Women's Investigation Team Posts Statement on Blog
"Women's Violent Crime Team and Women's Investigation Team Have Different Duties"
Recently, the Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station has been criticized for conducting coercive investigations that falsely accused an innocent man of a sex crime, drawing attention to the newly updated organizational chart. Previously, the head of the Women and Juvenile Investigation Team at the police station raised concerns about the organizational chart, posting a message stating that "the Women and Juvenile Investigation Team is receiving various mocking comments and insults instead of the Women and Juvenile Violent Crime Investigation Team," which sparked controversy.
Reorganized chart of Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station. [Image source=Official website of Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station]
On the 2nd, the official website of the Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station displayed the updated organizational chart. According to the chart, the Women and Juvenile Division is composed of the Women Protection Unit, Juvenile Protection Unit, Women and Juvenile Investigation Team (Yeocheong Investigation Team), and Women and Juvenile Violent Crime Investigation Team (Yeocheong Violent Crime Team). Before the reorganization, the Women and Juvenile Division only listed two teams: the Women and Juvenile Unit and the Yeocheong Investigation Team, so the new chart is more detailed.
The day before, the head of the Yeocheong Investigation Team also expressed dissatisfaction with the organizational chart. Kang Dong-ho, the head of the Yeocheong Investigation Team, explained on his blog, "The Yeocheong Violent Crime Team and the Yeocheong Investigation Team have different offices and different work assignments," adding, "In the case of the 'health club restroom incident,' since it was a sex crime case with an unidentified suspect at the time of report, the Yeocheong Violent Crime Team from another office is conducting the investigation."
Existing organizational chart of Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station. [Image source=Official website of Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station]
He continued, "However, the 'Yeocheong Violent Crime Team' is not listed on our police station's website organizational chart," and pointed out, "Tens of thousands of people have visited our police station's website to view the organizational chart because of this incident, but I do not understand why the 'Yeocheong Violent Crime Team' is missing."
Inspector Kang said, "The Yeocheong Violent Crime Team cowardly hides behind their colleagues (the Yeocheong Investigation Team) who are struggling with cyberbullying, and when we heard that the closure notice sent to the man falsely accused in the restroom incident on June 28 was issued under the name of 'Yeocheong Investigation Team 1,' all our team members were shocked and cried for a long time."
Meanwhile, the so-called 'Dongtan Health Club Restroom Incident' began on the afternoon of the 23rd of last month, around 5:10 PM, when a woman in her 50s reported that a man was secretly watching her while she was using the women's restroom next to the health club in an apartment complex in Hwaseong City and engaged in sexual acts.
At the time, the man denied the allegations, but the police showed an attitude that seemed to assume his guilt and spoke to him informally, causing controversy. Eventually, on the 27th of last month, the woman in her 50s confessed to making a false report, and the case was closed. The Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station canceled the man's booking and booked the woman on charges of false accusation.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
