The “Firsts” and “Bests” of Government Innovation

The Korean Government will accredit the “Firsts” of our innovations that contributed to the public’s comfort and safety, and select the “Best” cases of government innovation to spread as examples to our many institutions.

The Best

Best In Korea: Self-requested Location Tracking for People in Need of Assistance

National Police Agency
2023-12-29

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The Korean National Police Agency (NPA) newly developed a ‘Visual 112’ (112 is the emergency police service number for Korea) from the existing ‘Vocal 112”.

Even when speaking is not an option, the caller’s cellphone dispatches on-site conditions to the emergency situation room, allowing more precise reports, and faster police dispatch!

Content

√ Overview

√ The Birth of a System

√ Accomplishments and expansion

■ An Idea On Site, Now a Safety Measure for the Public.

[Real Life Emergency Call Cases]

· (Case 1) After a small child stated they were “lost in the mountains” right before their emergency call was cut off, the ‘Visual 112’ system confirmed video footage and coordinates of the location, allowing a police vehicle to be dispatched and safely rescue the child. (2022.07.27. / Incheon Police Agency, Police situation room)

· (Case 2) After an individual reported only seeing “mountains and river” while lost at the Ara Canal, the ‘Visual 112; system, utilizing real-time video and location systems, tracked the registration number for a telephone pole, leading to the caller’s rescue. (2022.09.17. / West Incheon, General 112 Situation Room for Public Safety)

· (Case 3) After reports that an individual was “continuously depositing 50,000 won bills at an ATM”, the police realized the possibility of voice phishing in action. Using ‘Visual 112’, the police confirmed the onsite situation in real-time, including the description of the individual in question, arriving at the location within 5 minutes and apprehending the suspect. (2022.10.05. / North Jeolla Police Agency, General 112 Situation Room for Public Safety)

Just like the cases above, when the calling party may have difficulty explaining the onsite situation or are in a difficult position, there was a need for a system that allows police officers receiving such calls to further clarify the callers’ situation, and pinpoint locations.

The NPA, in 2019, had been developing the ‘Visual 112 Emergency Call Support System’ as a research project of the Police Lab* 1.0, a national R&D endeavor of cooperation between the NPA and the Ministry of Science and ICT(MSIT) to create a customized call report system on site for the 112 emergency call system.

* A research and development project implemented to find solutions for intelligent crime in the field of public safety, with cooperation between the NPA and the MSIT,

After approximately 20 months of efforts from emergency call system departments at the NPA, R&D departments, policemen in the field, and researches, the ‘Visual 112’s impact was confirmed in 2021 following primary onsite demonstrations from the Seoul NPA’s Gwanak Police Station and expanded demonstrations with the Jeju NPA.

Existing 112 emergency calls, much like depictions on TV series, had to rely on the audio coming from the other end of the call to assess the situation onsite, including the caller’s location and status. ‘Visual 112’ allowed the situation onsite to be transmitted through the caller’s phone, allowing police forces to quickly and precisely assess the situation onsite, even when the caller was unaware of their location or was unable to speak due to situations of crime, accidents, and natural disasters.

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■ ‘Visual 112 Calls’ for Dangerous and Urgent Situations.

The ‘Visual 112’ service was simple to use. When an individual makes a 112 emergency call in a crisis situation, receiving police officers send a text message to the caller’s phone. Once the caller accesses the URL provided in the message, their location and video footage onsite is transmitted to the police situation room.

The ‘Visual 112’ has the advantage of not requiring installation of a separate app. Once the caller accesses the URL provided by the police and agrees to provide permission for location and camera functionality on their phone, the ‘Visual 112’ system is accessible. The receiving officer (City or Provincial NPA), the commanding party (local police station), and the dispatched officer can all confirm the location of the caller in real time, without the need to request location search to the mobile carrier. The precision of the location information is high, as the service receives location information stored with the caller’s phone directly, unlike the existing Location Based Service (LBS) provided by mobile carriers.

Furthermore, a chatting system was provided for the caller to communicate to the receiving office without having to speak, in consideration of the caller’s safety. A secret mode was also provided, enabling onsite footage and audio recordings to be sent to the police, alongside secret chatting functionality, allowing communication to be hidden from any suspects onsite.

■ The ‘Visual 112’ Call System is Protecting the Lives of the Public!

According to the NPA, the ‘Visual 112’ service was used over 3000 times within 2 weeks of introduction nationwide. In 2022 alone, it was utilized 17,517 times for callers, and 22,029 times for onsite police officer use. Domestic violence victims with no caller response were rescued, and children lost in the mountains could be rescued rapidly with video footage and location confirmation. A caller lost at the Ara Canal, unable to describe their exact location, could be safely rescued using the ‘Visual 112’ system, and a voice phishing criminal in action could be rapidly apprehended with a witness onsite providing information.

[From an interview with Inspector Park, Hong-kyun of the Seoul Gwanak Police Station’s 112 Public Safety Situation Room]

· (Q) How is the Visual 112 system helping out in the field?

· (A) When you take a look at the calls that the situation room receives, there had been many cases where the caller, in a panic, is unable to provide their precise location. They may have suffered from a disaster, or may be unable to state their location due to being kidnapped and blindfolded. The ‘Visual 112’ system is a tremendous help, as it has allowed us to view the onsite situation through the caller’s camera, allowing faster location confirmation and situational awareness, and ultimately faster police dispatch within the golden hour.

▲ Inspector Park, Hong-kyun, demonstrating the ‘Visual 112 emergency call’ system at the 112 situation room, Seoul Gwanak Police station, on May 28th, 2020

■ We Will Safely Protect the Precious Lives of Our Public!

The Korean Police are innovating, even today, to find solutions to fight ever evolving forms of crime. We vow to make further efforts to create innovative policies and services that protect the public, much like the ‘Visual 112’.

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