Police chief orders use of guns to wipe out criminal gangs

The nation's police chief on Tuesday declared war on criminal gangs nationwide, ordering police officers to aggressively use all means available, including firearms, to subdue violent gang members. "Police will fight a war against organized gangsters by the end of this year," Cho Hyun-oh, commissioner general of the National Police Agency, said in a regular press meeting. "I will allow all kinds of equipment and gear (to be used) in the process of suppressing gangsters," Cho said, apparently referring to the on-duty use of pistols, which is strictly limited. Cho's order came after the police came under fire for passively responding to a bloody fight between rival gangs in Incheon, west of Seoul, last week. About 130 gangsters from the two different groups got in a violent fight on Friday night at a hospital in downtown Incheon, with one gang member severely injured from being stabbed. According to witnesses, some 70 police officers called to the scene only kept watch over the gang members for about two hours, even as scuffles broke out. The street fight triggered massive public worries over the police's feeble responses to organized gangsters, who sometimes prey on common people. Reprimanding Incheon police for their failure to react to the gangsters' clash, Cho said, "Why do the officers carry guns? The police (at the scene) should have boldly resorted to pistol use." Cho's statement signaled more relaxed standards for on-duty use of guns. Currently local police officers carry guns but the use is limited to when a violent criminal suspect is attempting to flee police. Cho said he won't approach the war on organized crime from the perspective of human rights. He also vowed to root out police corruption often found in the connections between local police officers and business owners. The police chief also unveiled a plan to abolish compulsory riot police service, which has spawned numerous cases of violence among the young men who spend about two years in the police agency in lieu of compulsory military service. Beatings, insults or other kinds of brutal handling of junior members in the riot police service have often triggered calls for measures to stop violence in the division. The police agency has already embarked on a plan to replace them with paid police officers after discussing it with the defense ministry, Cho said. The compulsory service in the combat police troops will be completely abolished by next year while those who volunteer as conscripted police guards will be allowed into the service by 2016 at the latest, the police chief said.