Yeongju City, CCTV Proves Effective... Taking Responsibility for Hiking Trail Safety

City Introduces 'Hiking Trail Crime Prevention System'

Eliminating Safety Blind Spots, Contributing to Citizen Safety and Crime Prevention

The Integrated CCTV Control Center in Yeongju-si, Gyeongbuk Province, has proven to be a great help in preventing various crimes and accidents by detecting over 3,500 incident and accident scenes throughout this year.

Building on this achievement, Yeongju-si plans to further enhance citizen safety and crime prevention by creating a ‘Smart Safe Trail for Hiking and Walking Paths’ to enable citizens to use hiking trails, walking paths, and parks that are less frequented more conveniently and safely.

The city aims to create “hiking trails and walking paths that citizens can use with peace of mind” by establishing and operating a ‘Crime Prevention System for Hiking and Walking Trails’ at 16 entrances across 7 hiking trails: Gususang (Gahung-dong), Ttukkeopbawi (Hyucheon-dong), Yaksubong (Isan-myeon), Cheoltansan and Seongjae (Yeongju-dong, Sangmang-dong, Hamang-dong, Gahung-dong), the mountain behind City Hall (Hyucheon-dong), Yongamsan (Anjeong-myeon), and Janggunbong (Bonghyeon-myeon).

Through this project, the city plans to minimize blind spots where CCTV is not installed to prevent crimes and strengthen the system to respond quickly in case of accidents.

The ‘Crime Prevention System for Hiking and Walking Trails’ installs emergency bells and guide QR codes at the entrances of hiking trails and walking paths. Anyone can easily notify the Integrated CCTV Control Center by pressing the emergency bell or scanning the QR code with a smartphone.

In particular, after scanning the QR code with a mobile phone and agreeing to enter their phone number and transmit video and location information, the video and location data are sent in real time to the Yeongju City Hall Integrated CCTV Control Center, and help can be quickly requested via the ‘Message’ button.

Additionally, in case of an accident or emergency, pressing the ‘Report’ button on the smartphone screen sends CCTV footage to the ‘Yeongju-si CCTV Integrated Control Center,’ which immediately connects with the police and fire stations to enable rapid on-site response.

Mayor Park Nam-seo stated, “Since places like hiking trails and walking paths, which citizens have used with peace of mind, have recently emerged as high-risk areas for crimes with unusual motives targeting unspecified individuals, we will strengthen 24-hour monitoring of hiking trails and walking paths frequently used by citizens.” He added, “We will do our utmost to eliminate blind spots in public safety and protect citizens’ valuable property and lives from crimes and various disasters.”

Currently, Yeongju-si has 24 control operators monitoring about 2,000 security CCTVs 24 hours a day. The city has also been focusing on enhancing situation assessment skills and on-site response capabilities by providing detailed job training to the operators to handle emergencies.

As a result of these efforts, just this year alone, the center detected over 3,500 incidents and accident scenes, including violent crimes, thefts, drunk driving, and missing person searches, and directly supported the arrest of suspects in 38 cases by discovering crime scenes.

With the establishment of the ‘Crime Prevention System for Hiking and Walking Trails,’ the city expects to eliminate CCTV blind spots on hiking trails and walking paths, thereby further protecting the lives and safety of its citizens.