Anklets on sex criminals to alarm school officials
By Na Jeong-ju
The National Police Agency (NPA) is developing an electronic alarm system that will automatically inform schools and adjacent police stations if wearers of location-tracing electronic anklets approach schools.
The system is the latest in a series of measures to protect students from sex offenders.
“The concept of the system is to help schools take precautionary steps against anklet wearers who might repeat crimes. An alarm will be automatically issued to teachers and police officers if those wearing the devices approach within 200 meters of schools,” said an NPA spokesman. “We are considering implementing the warning system during the first half of this year following pilot tests.”
Currently, a total of 982 convicted sex offenders who have been released from jail are wearing such anti-crime devices. They are monitored by the police and a team from the Justice Ministry.
The agency also plans to install additional surveillance cameras inside schools and advise the institutions to set up transparent fences around school campuses so that patrolling officers can easily see what’s happening on the sites.
“We prepared for such measures to deal more strictly with incidents of sexual abuse and harassment committed in schools. There are many students and parents who don’t feel that their schools are safe from convicted sex offenders,” the official said.
According to the Seoul Foundation of Women and Family, many elementary, middle and high school students in Seoul believe that serious crimes are possible in and around school compounds.
The foundation’s recent survey on 1,750 primary, middle and high school students showed that 29.3 percent of total respondents didn’t feel that their schools are safe from the dangers of violence and sex offenses.
Currently, only sex offenders are forced to wear electronic anklets, but, beginning March, they will also be mandatory for convicted burglars who are considered highly likely to reoffend along with those convicted of attempted murder.
Regarding concern that such measures could violate the human rights of convicted offenders, the NPA said the measures will be implemented on a limited basis based on opinions from experts.