A female university student who was returning home late because of preparing a graduation thesis was wounded by an unidentified young man in Kyungpook National University on November 16. Kyungpook National University asked the police to patrol periodically for security.

These days, campuses have large student populations and extensive areas that are exposed to the danger of crime. We need to look at the security services in our university and the police patrols on campus.

● Police Patrols on Campus
There has been a hostile relationship between students and police because of the forcible suppression of student democracy demonstrations by the police in the 1980s. At that time, universities entrusted student security to students, and the police couldn’t enter the campus. After that, we couldn’t see police patrols on campus. However, the attack in Kyungpook National University served as momentum for the university to ask the police to prevent crimes on campus.

● Our University’s Public Security
Our university has guards who are hired from recruiting companies and campus police, Campol, which is a student crime prevention organization. However, the main business of guards is building management. Campol is a student crime prevention organization that the Department of Police Administration established in 2005 to preserve security on campus and prevent accidents at night. Their patrols are symbolic, but their effectiveness is low. The students who make up Campol also can be victims of crime. Therefore, Campol has its limits to take responsibility for all security on campus.

In this situation, our university has decided that it will ask the police to patrol the campus at night. Students have shown a positive reaction to patrols by the police on campus.

● Efforts of Other Universities for Campus Security
Other universities are organizing patrols with security companies, and running student crime prevention organizations and patrols by the police at night. At present, Kyungpook National University is the only university in the Daegu- Gyeongbuk area that has asked the police to patrol at night.

The Kyungpook National University patrols combine a security company and university security guards. Since the November 16 attack, the university has run parallel patrols by the police at night.

Yeungnam University is patrolled by a security company and guards at night, using vehicles and motorcycles, and it has installed emergency phones. The “Yeungnam University Guard,” a student crime prevention organization, patrol the campus from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. The “Yeungnam University Guards” select 27 workstudy students, and they prefer students who are black belt holders. Daegu University is patrolled by a security company. There is a voluntary student police detachment and “Peacemakers,” a student organization. The voluntary student police detachment’s main business is managing vehicles on campus. “Peacemakers” is a voluntary corps of students and it patrols the campus when students are returning home.

Campus can be a crime spot. The university must take positive steps to ensure there is no repeat of the November 16 attack.