It has been confirmed that a suspect wanted for robbery and injury walked into a provincial police agency, yet moved around the building without any restrictions until district police officers were dispatched and arrived.

At 9:55 a.m. on the 28th, a man in his 40s identified as A came to the first-floor lobby of the Jeonbuk Provincial Police Agency and confessed to his crime.

At the time, suspect A was being pursued by police on charges of threatening a convenience store owner with a weapon, stabbing them, and fleeing with cash around 5:00 a.m. on the 27th in Hyoja-dong, Wansan-gu, Jeonju.

A public service worker in charge of building security initially mistook A for a regular civil petitioner, but upon learning during the conversation that A had come to surrender, reported the matter to the Seobu District Office at 9:59 a.m.

This was because the Seobu District Office was the jurisdiction covering the convenience store where the crime took place, and it was also the closest police unit, located about 1 kilometer away from the Jeonbuk Provincial Police Agency.

Subsequently, police officers from the Seobu District Office arrived at the provincial police agency at 10:03 a.m. and arrested suspect A. For nearly 5 minutes, A stood in a corner of the building lobby without any physical restraint or control by the police.

Because the fact of A's surrender was not relayed to the Jeonbuk Provincial Police Agency's 112 Comprehensive Situation Room, none of the more than 500 police officers working in the building were aware of the situation.

A police official explained, "Since 'taking action first and reporting later' is the priority, the Seobu District Office focused on dispatching officers and making the arrest. Because the arrest was carried out swiftly, it appears the provincial police agency only became aware of the situation after the arrest was completed."

The official added, "Public service workers, who are not police officers, lack a response manual for surrenders, and the report came in through a regular internal extension line to the district office rather than a 112 emergency call, which delayed the awareness of the situation. Taking this incident as an opportunity, we will consider establishing relevant manuals."

(Photo: Yonhap News)