“If it’s 5th Street and Western, it’s Korean Town, right? There’s a car accident right now. Officers are out.”
Collect real-time information on SNS
Two helicopters patrol every two hours
Ready to dismantle operation in case of danger
“The possibility of the one like in Seoul is slim”
The LAPD Media Relations Division is located on the second floor of the LA Police Department (LAPD) headquarters on the 2nd of Nov. A public information officer (PIO) looks into the monitor and identifies the accident that occurred just a few minutes ago.
“First Alert” is a real-time event based on SNS (social media) used by the LAPD press office .It’s an accident confirmation system. The incident information posted on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram is abbreviated and displayed on the online map.
Christopher Noh, a Korean PIO next to him, points to a large screen, the size of a person, on the wall behind him. On the screen, contents posted on various SNS in real-time are being displayed rapidly.
He said, “The incident occurs and what people post on SNS comes up in real-time.
“Based on SNS, we also predict future protests and criminal incidents,” he said.
The LAPD Media Relations Division consists of three teams: a media unit, an SNS unit, and a video unit. In particular, SNS units newly established in 2010 have recently become a one with heavy task.
“As SNS is activated, most information can be identified through it,” Noh said. “In particular, the demonstration does not tell the police when it will occur.” However, it evaluates how many people will flock through SNS and works with nearby security agencies in advance to prepare. That’s why monitoring is important,” he explained.
The PIO said it is unlikely that such a thing will happen in LA. The trampling disaster that killed 156 people in Itaewon, South Korea.
“As you know, the streets of LA are wide and the slopes are small, so it is unlikely that such a thing will happen,” said Danny Chau, AAPI community director.
“In addition, there must be a responsible person to hold the event and get a permit from LA City and Transportation Department in advance. The police evaluated the number of people who can be accommodated in the place through the permit issuance process and if it exceeds this, of course, the permit should not be issued to begin with.”
If there is no permit or if there is a different scale from the content of the permit, the police can immediately impose sanctions, the PIO explained.
Noh said, “Unauthorized demonstrations can be stopped immediately. In addition to the protests, he said, “If it exceeds a certain size and shows violence like the Rams Super Bowl victory site downtown in February, we can disband it immediately.”
Noh then said, “There is a protocol to disperse gathering. The size of the police force input varies depending on the size of the meeting, including 300 and 500 people”
He said “The Air Support Division reports and evaluates it on the helicopter and reports it to the ground.”
Usually, more than 150 to 200 people are reported. The LAPD has 21 stations and officers will be dispatched in five minutes.
The Air Support Division under the LAPD is the largest police aviation support unit in the world with 17 helicopters.
Noh said, “We figure out the way to disperse people from helicopters and guide them. If the gathering is large, horse units and motorcycle units will also be deployed to drive people in various directions and block the road.”
The Air Support Division was about five minute drive from LAPD headquarters. At around 1 p.m., three police helicopters were preparing to take off at the same time on the roof of the building.
Captain Sean Parker, a 26-year veteran police officer, said, “We take turns to patrol two helicopters every two and a half hours. When requests are made from the ground, the rest of the helicopters are deployed, except for patrol helicopters, he said. “We have no time to rest because we support numerous sites, including police commanders, SWATs, and investigators’ teams’ transporting crime scenes.
Captain Parker said police helicopters are always dispatched to places where crowds are gathered, adding, “If it is large, we stay on the crowd during the event and check the movements,” adding, “The size is especially important, but we focus on the speed and behavior of movement.” He said, “If I think a coach is necessary on the ground, I will go out even if only one person gathers.”
On the way out of the airport, LAPD’s motto written on a police helicopter stands out. “To Protect and to Serve.”
by Jang Suah
