During the city’s extension of its dog patrol program across nine districts (starting with Gangdong-gu on Aug. 12) until Oct. 4, participants recorded a total of 4,012 log entries—among them, 47 cases were related to crime prevention such as public intoxication (reported to 112) and 894 cases were related to facility safety and inconvenience such as broken security lights (reported to 120).

The city found that the dog patrol program had a positive effect on forming a culture of community security upon conducting a survey on the district patrol teams, 98.4% of whom responded that their awareness on crime prevention and community safety has improved after undertaking patrol activities and 94% of whom responded that they felt a stronger sense of social tie to their community.

In particular, the city is currently operating a collaborative program with a civic canine organization (@udo_seodanggae) and Songpa Police Station to promote the positive effects of interaction with pets, such as relieving emotional isolation and enhancing self-esteem for children living in group homes. The head of a group home participating in the program said that the group home’s children enjoyed taking part in the various activities and that the program is expected to provide tremendous emotional support.

Seoul showed much appreciation to the teams of each district for participating in the dog patrol program and for their crime prevention efforts in their community while also providing assistance to the socially vulnerable. The city also said that it will continue to pursue local administration that promotes more security-related policies.