Criticism against Police`s Plan to Initiate its “Sexparazzi” System

A recent announcement made by the police stating that it will hand out bounties for reports on sexual trafficking (a system sometimes referred to as “Sexparazzi”) beginning October 11 has stirred mixed feelings on the issue of privacy.

On October 1, a police official announced, “After anti-prostitution laws were put into effect on September 23, sexual trafficking has not only become harder to detect but also has become more intellectually evasive; thus, the police has decided to provide bounties for reports on sexual trafficking. We anticipate an increase in the number of reports.”

This system was put into effect after Choi Gee-moon, head of the police department, recently instructed the police force to find a way to increase the number of reports on sexual trafficking.

However, many are voicing their opinions such as, “Although sexual trafficking must be cracked down, a system such as this one will considerably raise the possibility that personal privacy will be ignored.” Most likely once rewards are offered by the police, “professional bounty-hunters,” who have little discrepancy over the issues of individual privacy, will likely violate the privacy of ordinary citizens who are not related to sexual trafficking and may even disrupt or ruin families. Furthermore, if such incidents were to occur frequently, a sense of distrust and hatred could arise in society.

On this matter, a police official stated, “When reports on sexual trafficking are reported to the police, in order to protect privacy issues, the police will start actual investigations only on reports that produce reasonable evidence that an illegal sexual transaction has taken place.”

The types of reports that may be submitted range from the handing out of sexually explicit advertisements to actual sexual trafficking, human trafficking, and any other activities that are banned in the anti-prostitution laws.

Rewards will be provided on a case-by-case basis according to decisions made by the rewards board of review. For example, in the case of small-time reports like reports on issues such as the handing out of illegal advertisements, the reward will be very small, while reports on some of the more serious crimes such as human trafficking will receive up to 20 million to 30 million won.

According to article 5, section 12 of the police department’s handbook on the “rules for the protection and provision of rewards for those who report crimes,” those who report special crimes that have been selected by the head of the police force are entitled to a certain amount of reward. The police, in accordance to this provision, has been handing out rewards that range from millions to tens of millions of won to those who have reported murder, assault and battery, hit and runs, and corruption within the police department.

On the other hand, experts have criticized that this system has been the result of “administrative expediency,” and “superficial administrative measures.”

The police had previously put into effect a system where bounties were handed out to reports on violations of traffic laws (known as “Carparazzi”) starting in March 2001. However, the system produced many problems on the subject of privacy and the provision of rewards without reduction of the number of traffic violations and was thus abolished.

Seoul National University Law Professor Cho Guk stated, “The crackdown on sexual trafficking is a must. However, the system that is used to crack down on sexual trafficking is somewhat extreme. Unlike Carparazzis who provide hard evidence of traffic violations, Sexparazzis will cause many problems during the process of figuring out whether or not actual sexual trafficking has occurred.”