Special Chemical Marker to Automatically Spray When Electronic Ankle Monitor Is Tampered With: A Clever Idea by Police

An idea to automatically spray a special tracking substance when stalkers or other offenders damage their electronic ankle monitors won the grand prize at the Science and Security Idea Contest co-hosted by the Korean National Police Agency and the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The National Police Agency and the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that they held the awards ceremony for the 12th Science and Security Idea Contest at Songdo Convensia in Incheon on October 22, presenting certificates and a total of 19.8 million won in prize money for 13 winning entries.

The grand prize, which is the Prime Minister's Award, went to the "Self-Spraying and Tracking System Using Digital Chemical Markers to Prevent Electronic Device Tampering," proposed by Inspector Yoo Jo-dong of the Incheon Michuhol Police Station.

This idea is designed to automatically spray a special substance identifiable through ultraviolet light or scent when an electronic ankle monitor is damaged, making it possible to pinpoint the offender's escape route.

The purpose is to solve the problem where location tracking becomes difficult due to the tampering of electronic ankle monitors.

The top prize in the police division went to Inspector Kim Jeong-hoon of the Forensic Science Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency for his "Smart Forensic Safety Goggles."

The idea combines light sources and filters necessary for crime scene investigation into goggles, protecting the eyes while allowing evidence to be found quickly and accurately.

The top prize in the public division went to the team consisting of Park Jun-hyung, Choi Seong-wook, Kim Jun-hyung, and Jeong Seong-hun for their "Bulletproof and Protective Robot for Urban Counter-Terrorism Operations."

It is designed to secure the safety of police officers during high-risk operations by combining a ballistic shield with a tracked mobile device, applying LiDAR-based semi-autonomous tracking and remote-control functions.

In addition, a hidden GPS tracker detector, a technology to quickly reveal fingerprints on wet evidence, and AI-powered patrol car deployment recommendations were also selected as winning entries.

The grand prize winner received 5 million won in prize money, while the top prize winners in the police and public divisions each received 3.5 million won.

The National Police Agency and the Ministry of Science and ICT have been holding the contest every year since 2015.

Systems such as Visible 112, which transmits a caller's video and location, and a smartphone fingerprint identification system have previously led to research and development through this contest.

Park Hyun-soo, Director General for Future Security Policy at the National Police Agency, emphasized that they will strive to utilize the winning entries and other promising proposals for solving field problems through research and development.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.