The new police patrol cars are under 'empty can controversy'… Basic equipment is not functioning.

The new patrol cars assigned by the police have come under controversy as 'empty can patrol cars' due to malfunctioning basic equipment such as sirens and walkie-talkies.

According to data released on the 15th by Shin Jeong-hoon, the chairman of the National Assembly's Administrative Safety Committee from the Democratic Party, 13 new Grandeur patrol cars assigned to the Gyeongbuk Police Agency's Highway Patrol have been left unattended in the garage for over ten days.

These vehicles are lacking walkie-talkies and do not have the tablet PCs needed to control the siren functions, rendering them unable to perform basic patrol duties.

The issue is not limited to the Gyeongbuk Police Agency. The Jeonnam Police Agency has also confirmed that six recently supplied Grandeur and Nexo patrol cars do not have tablet PCs installed, preventing them from being operated.

In the case of the Daegu Police Agency, two Nexo patrol cars have been discovered to have problems with their sirens and dashcams not properly connecting to the tablets.

A police official told Yonhap News, "Field personnel only realized that the functions were not operational after getting in the newly assigned cars," adding, "What kind of citizen protection can there be with patrol cars that can't even turn on the sirens at night?"

Even more seriously, some patrol cars are equipped with sirens that do not meet standard specifications.

It has been revealed that despite having digital signage that did not receive approval for structural changes, it still passed inspection.

Shin Jeong-hoon emphasized, "It is a serious violation of law for the police agency to unilaterally deploy incomplete cars that have not even passed inspection to the field," stating that a comprehensive review and improvement of the police budget allocation and equipment operation is urgently needed.

Meanwhile, the police agency had executed a budget of approximately 49.1 billion won last year to replace 959 aging patrol cars.

Image source: Police Nexo patrol car / Screenshot from the official blog of the police agency, Reference photo for understanding the article / gettyimagesbank