By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Soaring false alarms are diverting the attention of police in their war against crimes against children.
On April 7, a 12-year-old boy living in Seoul left home leaving a message that he would go to a game room he regularly frequented. When he did not return home, his father called him. But the child hurriedly hung up the phone after saying ``Daddy I was kidnapped. I'm being taken to a strange place.'' The father phoned again but couldn't reach his son. However, police found the boy at the game room next to his home.
In police questioning, the child said ``I lied to skip hagwon classes. And I turned off my cell phone to prevent my parents from tracing my whereabouts.''
On the same day, police in Incheon received a call from a primary school student claiming a man in his 40s had tried to kidnap her as she walked to school. The call prompted 30 police officers to rush to the scene to identify the criminal from video clips recorded by CCTVs installed around the alleged crime scene but failed. Later, the child confessed she had lied for fear of being disciplined for being late for school.
``In the aftermath of recent children-oriented crimes, nervous parents make reckless calls to police if they fail to confirm the whereabouts of their children,'' said an official at Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. ``But most of them turn out to be false alarms.''
According to the Seoul Police Agency, an average of 16,000 missing person reports have been made each year since 2002 ― 16,006 in 2002, 21,229 in 2003, 18,643 in 2004, 14,018 in 2005, 14,149 in 2006 and 14,724 in 2007. As of April 11, a total of 3,311 calls have been reported.
``Once we receive such a call, nearby police are mobilized. In conclusion, the more false calls we receive, the bigger problems we face in coping with actual crimes,'' the official said.
This is not a localized phenomenon taking place only in Seoul. According to the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency, it received a total of 188 missing children reports in March alone, up more than 70 percent from 114 in February and 112 in January.
The Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency said it had received more than 330 missing child reports in the last four months, up 30 percent from a year ago. The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency also experienced a sudden increase.
By law, those who deliberately make false calls face criminal punishment.