A demand analysis of autonomous police activities by content analysis of policy contests

In this study, the citizens’ demand for autonomous police activities was analyzed through content analysis of proposals submitted to the ‘Autonomous Police Policy Idea Contest’ hosted by the Gyeongsangbuk-do Autonomous Police Committee. A total of 226 proposals received in 2023 and 2024 were classified based on areas of interests(e.g., ‘life safety’, ‘protection of the socially vulnerable’, ‘traffic safety’) and required activities(e.g., ‘improving police response efficiency’, ‘strengthening education and publicity’, ‘improving and expanding facilities’, ‘expanding participation’) from the perspective of laws and 3E. After checking the coding reliability of the two coders(percentages of agreement are over 89%, and the Scott’s Pi & Krippendorff’s Alpha values are also over .84), the research results are summarized as follows. First, although people of various ages participated in the contest, those in their 20s or younger showed the highest proportion. It was confirmed that the contest could be an effective means of attracting interest and participation in autonomous police activities among those in their 40s or younger, who were relatively excluded in the process of forming autonomous police committees. Second, the highest area of interest in autonomous police activities was ‘traffic safety’(34.51%), ‘life safety’(30.53%) and ‘protection of the socially vulnerable’(30.53%) also showed similar proportions. However, at a specific level, slight differences depending on the participation period, participant age, participant address could also be found. Third, the demand for ‘facility improvement and expansion’(46.02%) for successful autonomous police activities was the highest regardless of the participation period, participant age, participant address. And this demand was particularly high in the ‘traffic safety’ area. These results can be interpreted as emphasizing the need for the police to continue efforts to identify the demand for autonomous police activities and to actively cooperate with general administration. Lastly, follow-up strategies and research tasks necessary to provide public security services that meet citizens’ demand were looked at.