"Closed After Internal Review Determined Low Utilization of Free Bulletin Board"
The Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station in Gyeonggi, which was criticized for coercive investigation by falsely accusing an innocent man in his 20s of a sex crime, has reportedly closed its free bulletin board.
On the 23rd, Kukmin Ilbo reported that when accessing the free bulletin board on the Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station's website, a closure notice saying "Thank you for using the free bulletin board so far" appears. The previous free bulletin board under the 'Civil Complaints Window' menu has been replaced with the 'Police Civil Complaints Portal.'
The Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station stated, "In accordance with the integrated policy for administrative agency civil complaint services, all complaints will be operated through the Police Civil Complaints Portal." However, it is still possible to bypass and access the free bulletin board through Google searches and other means. After the free bulletin board disappeared, netizens flocked to the 'Let's Praise' board.
Currently, the 'Let's Praise' board is flooded with critical posts such as "Why was the free bulletin board closed?" "There is nothing to praise, so why leave the praise board open?" and "If you are confident, just stay quiet."
Earlier, the Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station was embroiled in controversy for accusing a man in his 20s of a sex crime based solely on a report from a woman in her 50s after he used the restroom next to a gym in Hwaseong City. The officer in charge reportedly spoke to the man informally and said, "If you are confident, just stay quiet." The false accusation against Mr. A was revealed to be based on the woman's false claim.
A Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station official told Kukmin Ilbo, "The free bulletin board was not closed due to public criticism. After internal review, it was judged that the utilization of the free bulletin board was low, so it was decided to close it," adding, "We plan to receive public opinion through other official channels that can provide responses, such as the Police Civil Complaints Portal, the National Petition Board, and complaint phone lines."
The higher authority, the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency, began a full investigation on the 8th into whether there were any issues with the sex crime cases handled by the Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station. They plan to review documents, interview the investigators in charge, and interview both perpetrators and victims to examine the appropriateness of the investigation procedures and the rationality of the results.
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