Daejeon Establishes Linked System with Fire and Police Departments through Smart City Integrated Center
Rapidly Responding to Emergency Situations including Crimes, Disasters, and Rescues using CCTV

When disasters, accidents, or incidents occur, the 'golden time' that determines the life or death of patients and victims is critical. Over a long period, our country has recognized the importance of golden time through various large and small incidents and accidents. However, the repeated cycle of chronic 'safety negligence' and 'desk-bound administrative systems' continues to threaten public safety.

Daejeon Metropolitan City is operating a 'Smart City Integrated Center.' It is considered an alternative to secure golden time and prevent accidents, disasters, and emergencies. This project operates a wide-area-based closed-circuit television (CCTV) integrated control center, a traffic management center, a cyber threat response center, and a regional information integrated center where all computing equipment of the city and its jurisdictions are integrated.



Daejeon is implementing the 'Smart City Citizen Safety Five-Link Service Project' by utilizing the Smart City Integrated Center. It has established a linked system with fire departments, police departments, disaster safety situation rooms, and services for socially vulnerable groups, operating to ensure citizen safety. Lee Young-mi, project manager of Daejeon Metropolitan City's Smart City Promotion Team, stated, "This is the inaugural service of the Smart City Integrated Platform Project, which the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has selected for 12 local governments including Seoul, Jeju Island, Yongin, and Mapo-gu this year and is promoting, and it is recognized as a best practice model for other local governments."

The service links the Smart City Integrated Center with the National Police Agency's Comprehensive Situation Room using network equipment. If an emergency occurs at the National Police Agency and an incident is reported, a 'real-time video request button' appears next to the report number, and pressing it sends video from five cameras at the incident scene to the police. Past video can be replayed as well as current scene footage, enabling crime tracking and route tracking. If there is no accurate video information of a specific location, nearby CCTVs are activated, and these are currently being utilized by fire departments and police departments.

Based on this, Daejeon has received the Grand Prize for two consecutive years at the 2016 Smart Service Excellence Competition hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Science and ICT, followed by the Award for Excellence in Public Safety for Asia-Pacific Smart City Projects in 2017 hosted by IDC, a global market analysis specialist, and the Excellent Award in the Public Institution Division at the Republic of Korea Crime Prevention Awards hosted by the National Police Agency.



Moreover, through smart city services, proactive measures against safety threats are possible, not just through incident reports. When staff conducting 24-hour surveillance detect incidents or accidents, they proactively transmit the relevant video to police and fire departments to ensure citizen safety and support recovery efforts.

Most local governments and previous surveillance systems were operated with a focus on 24-hour real-time 'monitoring.' Having one person check situations through dozens of CCTVs was inefficient and faced practical difficulties. This made timely surveillance impossible, resulting in repeated post-incident responses, but the difference with the smart city system is that video transmission is immediate, addressing these previous issues.

To protect citizen safety through smoother services, regulatory issues must be resolved. Currently, CCTVs are restricted under the Personal Information Protection Act. For example, if selective portions of video transmitted to police are set to preset or still settings, the exact incident scene can be identified. However, the Personal Information Protection Act, which prevents third parties from controlling video, is becoming a barrier to project implementation.

Lee Young-mi, project manager of Daejeon Metropolitan City, stated, "Currently, only approved police or authorized IP addresses and IDs registered on firewalls and network equipment can view video without violating the law," and added, "To use it more effectively and promote citizen safety, regulations must be relaxed through cooperation between the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and this is expected to happen soon."