U.S. military police officers stand guard at Camp Humphreys during a training exercise in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, April 25, 2023. (Richard Kim/U.S. Army)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea – U.S. military police are teaming up again after two years with South Korean police for joint patrols on the streets of Pyeongtaek, home of the largest U.S. military installation overseas.
Ten U.S. military police joined 12 local police officers in Pyeongtaek on July 25 in the first joint patrol since 2023, when the patrols were suspended by personnel shortages after the COVID-19 pandemic, a Pyeongtaek Police Station officer said by phone Thursday.
South Korean government officials customarily speak to the media on the condition of anonymity.
Pyeongtaek, roughly 40 miles south of Seoul, is home to Camp Humphreys, the headquarters for U.S. Forces Korea, 8th Army and the 2nd Infantry Division as well as the U.N. and Combined Forces Commands. The 3,500-acre base is occupied by roughly 40,000 U.S. and South Korean personnel.
Another 15,000 personnel occupy Osan Air Base, also in Pyeongtaek eight miles north of Humphreys.
The resumption of joint patrols comes a month after the Pyeongtaek police established a liaison unit specifically for U.S. military personnel. The unit will work with the U.S. military in dealing with a host of local issues, such as traffic accidents, unauthorized drone flights, driving under the influence and assault allegations.
The joint patrols will run from 10 p.m. to midnight every Friday and Saturday, according to the police officer. U.S. military and South Korean police first conducted joint patrols in the 1960s, she added.
“We will strengthen the South Korea-U.S. cooperation for national security and regional safety,” Pyeongtaek Police Chief Maeng Hoon-jae said in a news release Thursday.
Military police officers from Humphreys’ Provost Marshal Office and the 94th Military Police Battalion will participate in the patrols as a symbol of the “ongoing commitment” by the U.S. Army and South Korea “to strengthen public safety and enhance community relations,” 8th Army spokesman James Choi said in an email Wednesday.
“These patrols enhance the trust and confidence of the [South Korean] and U.S. community and provide a unified law enforcement response to ensure the safety of everyone,” Army Lt. Col. Zachary Fraklin, director of the provost marshal office, said in an emailed statement Wednesday.
Valerie Dixson, an Army Air Force Exchange Service contracting officer who recently moved to Pyeongtaek from Dallas, said she could communicate easily with local police if U.S. military police were also at the scene during an emergency.
“If I know it’s safer out there, then I’m bound to go out more often,” she said at the foyer of her office in Humphreys on Monday.
According to South Korea’s Ministry of Justice, 479 service members and 190 U.S. civilians were accused of crimes in 2024.
