The police tackling school gangs across the country are blacklisting students engaged in school violence or likely to commit violent acts, causing concerns about what areas in which the police should be active.

According to the Korean National Police Agency, they expanded the category of perpetrators subject to their investigation from school gangs to unruly students involved in or likely to be involved in school violence.

The agency recently ordered its units throughout the country to profile the students under the new guideline.

“We plan to update the list of students on school violence watch according to the new guideline,” said a police officer. “But the blacklist will not be made public and we plan to use it strictly for student guidance and protection. Police officers will contact the students on the watch list more often as their mentor.”

School gangs have been on the police watch list as they have characteristics similar to those of adult gangs, such as group violence, blackmailing and links with crime in the local community.

Individuals or groups engaged in petty cases of bullying or insulting their peers on school grounds have been considered the responsibility of the schools.

“The first thing we need to do against school violence is to define the perpetrators of school violence. We decided to profile likely perpetrators to monitor school violence effectively and thoroughly,” said the official.

Police officers will contact the blacklisted students on a regular basis, possibly once in a week.

But the teachers’ union has denounced police intervention in school violence, saying it “goes against education values.”

“The idea of police profiling students, including those who have trouble adjusting to school life, is a violation of human rights and education values,” said the progressive Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union in a statement last week.

“Police should instead focus on establishing a safe environment on and off campus and prevent students from being linked with violence occurring outside school.”

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)