South Korea has taken an unprecedented step towards introducing sci-fi policing by placing hologram policemen in the streets right in front of people’s eyes, a move that aims both to make preventive crime effective and to improve community security. The government’s effort to marry advanced technology with conventional policing methods to guarantee its people’s safety through this path speaks volumes about its anxiety and sense of responsibility.
For both potential offenders and recipients, the hologram officers present in these bustling areas (for example, metro stations and public places) can function as an intimidator and a contact point that is openly available for people. On the one hand, they initiate safety practices, become a bridgehead for reporting events, and even hold educational sessions on crime prevention. The first results of experiments with the virtual police are quite optimistic so far – the local officers directly associated with the reduction of the cases of vandalism, harassment, and other small crimes in the districts where the holograms have been installed are glad to share this information.
On one hand, the project marks from a legal perspective an even wider plan to reform police methods without the use of an overly large number of officers. Employing such high-tech solutions, the police will operate a larger area without losing visibility even in a dangerous neighborhood. Besides that, it is worthwhile to note that the holograms can gather data on people’s behavior in the locale, thus equipping law enforcement with the knowledge to take the appropriate action and better deploy their resources.
According to critics, several issues (such as the question of who is held accountable if the technology fails) are raised about the legality of the use of technical non-human enforcement tools. However, the advocates are maintaining that while these holograms indeed help less-staffed officers be present more efficiently and engage in other activities, they are not at all built to be an absolute replacement for officers.
Equally, this move is an example of a completely different interpretation of the law and its place in public safety in South Korea, a country traditionally sticking to the old methods of law enforcement but now progressively embracing high-end technology that characteristically goes hand in hand with the digital era. Thus, if the program manages to keep up with its goals in the long run, it might be the model that other countries could look up to when thinking about how to infuse the police force with modern technologies and, at the same time, make communities not feel abandoned or unsafe.
Also noteworthy is the fact that South Korea, by uniting law, technology, and public engagement, is setting the bar for crime prevention in society today.
