Police boxes in cities and counties throughout North Hamgyong province, including Hoeryong, have intensified public controls following provincial police orders to ensure a year free from incidents or accidents before the Ninth Party Congress, according to sources.
Patrols by officers from police boxes throughout Hoeryong have grown noticeably more frequent, and surprise home inspections have increased, a Daily NK source in North Hamgyong province who requested anonymity for security reasons said recently. This follows an order to ensure that police prevent all sorts of incidents and accidents in their jurisdictions, including crime.
According to the source, the provincial police ordered city and county police departments in early January to ensure a safe year free from incidents or accidents to mark the Ninth Party Congress with the fruits of their effort.
The city and county police departments relayed the order to police boxes, with the box chiefs imploring officers to intensify controls and urging them to take tighter responsibility for their jurisdictions.
After local authorities re-emphasized the provincial police’s order late last month, police box officers stepped up controls over the public.
Police expand surveillance tactics to prevent incidents
Police officers conduct more frequent patrols than usual and pay surprise visits to homes to assess occupants’ circumstances and behavior, viewing the strict management of their jurisdictions as their chief mission in order to prevent incidents or accidents. They are also asking informants planted throughout their jurisdictions to boost their activity.
These moves by police officers appear aimed at preventing incidents or accidents by putting civil society on guard.
People complain about the significant inconvenience this has caused. People who previously had little contact with their local police feel even more alarmed, the source said.
People say they never came face-to-face with their local police so often, as if they were a neighbor, as they do nowadays, the source said. Many people complain about the burden since the officers ask about this and that.
One Hoeryong resident in their 50s said a local police officer suddenly dropped by his home late last month, and that he “was sweating down his back” because he asked how he was doing nowadays and how his children were. The man said his heart sank wondering why the officer was suddenly asking these questions, and at the thought that perhaps his child had caused a problem.
North Koreans strongly tend to view themselves as subject to police surveillance and control, so even simple visits by officers make them nervous. In serious cases, they even complain of psychological pain.
However, some people are using the opportunity to establish friendships with their local police officers to build strong ties, the source said.
“If you make a living through commerce, you have to deal with frequent crackdowns, so if you’re on good terms with your local cops, you can ask them for help when you’re caught in a crackdown, or when problems arise,” the source said. “So, some people try to form good relationships with the police when they frequently visit, like now.”
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