The police force in Seoul launched a special squad on Wednesday in a bid to root out school violence as a string of recent suicides by young bullied students drew attention to rampant violence in classrooms.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency commissioned the “School Police,” a squad that will work jointly with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, earlier in the day.

The special team, composed of officers with backgrounds in adolescent education and psychology, will be dispatched to elementary and middle schools in Seoul for violence prevention, the agency said.

The dispatched officers will be tasked with helping victims of school violence and disciplining offenders as well as collecting intelligence on organized student gangs, it said.

As part of the prevention measures, police will also put in place counselors who can help victims around the clock, it said.

“I will push ahead with the School Police to form safe school environments and rapidly fix damage incurred by school violence,” said Lee Kang-deok, the commissioner of the SMPA.

The anti-violence efforts come as an array of suicide cases by bullied students have triggered anxiety over growing violence and hazing among peers. (Yonhap News)