Teenager Follows TV for Robbery

Police arrested a middle school student who followed a type of burglary he saw on an open investigation program. The TV program had aired a reconstruction of a crime where a burglar hits and robs women.

The Seocho Police Station in Seoul requested an arrest warrant on Monday for 14-year-old Lee on charges of stealing money and other goods from women who were walking alone after hitting them with a blunt weapon.

Police said that Lee hit a 40-year-old woman whose surname is Choi with a brick at around 1:50 p.m. on March 6 after having followed her in an alley of the residential area in Yangjae-dong, southern Seoul. He stole 230,000 won and her purse.

Police also suspects that he also hit a 39-year-old woman whose surname is Kim and took her purse with 300,000 won near the scene of his first crime on March 17.

Lee said to the police, “I watched people stealing money from women after hitting them on their head on TV several times and followed the way.” He also said that it was not difficult to rob as he did exactly what he saw on TV.

Police said, “While he was considering many criminal methods due to his inability to obtain a weapon, he saw the crime technique on TV. He began to watch crime investigation programs in earnest from early this year.”

Investigators said that Lee followed exactly what he saw on TV as he threw away the victim’s mobile phones to avoid being tracked, as well as their bags after taking cash out.

A police officer added, “It was hard to believe that a 14-year-old carefully chose not only his crime time and site but also carefully thought of his fleeing route.”

Meanwhile, the open investigation program on KBS from which Lee said he “learned the techniques” began last May and ended last month after a total of 42 episodes.

Although the program helped to arrest 27 criminals and had 11 voluntarily deliver themselves to the police, KBS decided to abolish the program as many viewers complained, saying the program is inappropriate for all family members to watch together at that time slot and it may also induce imitation crimes.

Choi Eung-ryeol, a professor of police administration at Dongguk University, said, “Crime investigation programs on TV prevent crimes to some extent. However, some learn crimes from them. Broadcasting stations should not re-act criminal techniques too precisely just to raise their ratings.”

alwaysj@donga.com