Scores of new police cars across the country were found to be faulty, lacking basic features like warning lights and radios, a report by a local media outlet said Sunday.
According to the Yonhap News Agency, 21 of the 125 highway patrol cars dispatched since earlier this year had problems. These included vehicles that were missing essential police equipment like radios or tablet PCs to control the warning lights, and some of the installed lights not meeting police standards.
The problem was reportedly found in both the southeastern and southwestern regions, with the 13 of the new cars for the police forces in North Gyeongsang Province sitting in the garage for days. Multiple cars dispatched for South Jeolla Province and Daegu also showed problems with equipment.
The National Police Agency last year spent 49.1 billion won ($35.9 million) for replacement cars, but it was found that 343 of them had not yet been delivered, even months after the deadline.
Rep. Shin Jeong-hoon of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea brought to light this delay last month, raising suspicion on the NPA granting favoritism to a certain enterprises entrusted to remodel the cars to fit police equipment.
"The NPA deploying unfinished patrol cars that didn't even pass the inspection is a serious violation of the law," he was quoted as saying.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
