Military Police Patrol Korean Establishments Looking for Soldiers Violating COVID Order

The Stars & Stripes has an article about the military police patrolling outside of Camp Humphreys trying to enforce USFK’s COVID restrictions:

Spc. Jacob Kincer and Spc. Nicholas Woznick, investigators with the 557th Military Police Company, patrol outside the gates of Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Friday, May 1, 2020.

Routine U.S. military police patrols into the entertainment district outside Camp Humphreys took on new meaning when coronavirus cases, seemingly curbed in South Korea, resurfaced with the loosening of social-distancing measures.

Just a week ago, new cases were being reported in the single digits. Now, that number has grown nearly eight-fold following an outbreak in Seoul’s popular nightlife district in Itaewon. Anyone who visited clubs and bars in the area between April 30 and May 6 is likely to have been exposed to the virus, according to the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

Courtesy patrols by military police have been standard practice for years. Police routinely visit drinking establishments outside the gates of nearly every U.S. military installation in the country to ensure service members are behaving.

Now, because of the declaration of a public health emergency by U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Robert Abrams, military police are also peering inside restaurants and barbershops to ensure U.S. personnel are complying with health protection condition restrictions.

USFK personnel must avoid gatherings of more than 15 people. Off-base activities such as dining at restaurants and visiting barbershops, bars, movie theaters and amusement parks remain prohibited.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but every time I hear of courtesy patrols in South Korea I can’t help, but think of the Osan Shakedown Scandal.

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Andy
Andy
4 years ago

From S&S: “However, the patrol teams have essentially zero jurisdiction beyond the installation. They can’t detain or demand anyone they believe has an affiliation with the garrison to provide identification. For example, the team approached a young American man with a military-style haircut exiting an off-base barbershop on May 1. Questioned, he denied any affiliation with Camp Humphreys or USFK and was allowed to go on his way.

For that reason, Reyes said, the patrols are usually accompanied by local police officers. “We have the backup,” Reyes said. “When we go out on town patrols, we meet up with our Korea national police counterparts. They have primary jurisdiction off post.” Anyone who refuses to identify themselves to South Korean authorities may be taken into custody and turned over to military authorities, Reyes explained.”

Americans not affiliated with USAG Humphreys or USFK might consider this harassment, since they aren’t really asking Koreans to show their ids.

setnaffa
4 years ago

While I understand the arguments some use to avoid presenting their ID to the police in America, Korea is a different cointry with different laws and when we waygooks are there we owe it to ourselves, our friends, and all the other waygooks in country not to present ourselves as a crusty hangmoon…

ChickenHead
ChickenHead
4 years ago

Fùck the police!

If USFK pigs start poking around, tell them to go eat a bag of dícks.

If they bring their running dog lackey Korean pigs along, tell them to go eat a bag of dícks with kimchee!

USFK pigs have zero authority to do jackshìt in Korea.

KNP pigs cannot ask for ID unless they have probable cause a crime has been committed… and violating USFK rule-of-the-day is not a crime in Korea.

Bags of dícks for everyone!

JoeC
JoeC
4 years ago

Involuntary tracking is not far off. I read ROK is requiring foreigners entering the country to install an app that will “notify” them when they are in a high risk area. Some form of tracking must be involved to make that work,

Does USFK have any OpSec concerns about a system that can track their personnel?

J6Junkie
J6Junkie
4 years ago

Stalinist Polive state slowly creeping up for the Confederacy.

liz
liz
4 years ago

Does USFK have any OpSec concerns about a system that can track their personnel?

Sounds like they’re more concerned with their own ability to track than any potential adverse consequences. See identity theft. We had our personal information stolen I don’t know how many times (5 maybe?) by the Chinese. Once it was the security clearance stuff, which included our parents social security numbers and naturalization data. Response was basically, oh, boogers….we lost all that, now we’ll need to ask you some more personal information and keep on buying that Chinese bug infested hardware. It was nuts.
This is awful.
Our son is in ROTC (senior, but he’s got one more year for engineering).

ChickenHead
ChickenHead
4 years ago

If you have a phone, you are tracked at least to a cell site… and even more accurately if you leave your GPS on… or your wifi picks up surrounding routers and their signal strength.

That is just the way it is… and has been for a long time.

When 5G comes out, your exact direction and distance from the antenna will be known.

Generally speaking, the Man can take his tracking ability and put it where the transmission don’t shine…

…but every now and then, government does something good (yeah, for their own good… but it filters down)… and this tracking is not to stifle speech or confiscate assets.

It is for the very good public health reason of identifying and stopping outbreaks.

This should not be a concern. The concern should be if they will stop doing it when it is no longer needed.

And, of course, the answer is no… as they were doing it before it was needed.

(Bonus: Ten years ago, I wanted to find someone and just called a friend at KT who looked up their location on their computer and told me…. simpler times.)

2ID Doc
2ID Doc
4 years ago

Something I’ve often wondered….The local command says “2ID Doc’s” is off-limits because he overcharges GIs for alcohol & patrons beat up GIs. OK a memo is posted 2ID Doc’s is off limits. Now how exactly do you enforce this? Send the MPs there to check on GIs there. Now, as a barracks lawyer, any soldier stepping into an off limits location is in violation of a GO. So are these soldiers who knowingly and willingly violated a GO going to stand punishment? The Nuremberg Trials abolished “we were only following orders” I’ve been friends with a couple of MPs who could never fully explain themselves out of this. Same for stopping cars that ignore the lowering of the flag and keep driving on posts that require all cars stop and the driver render honors to the flag. If all cars are required to stop, who stops the cars that refuse to stop?

setnaffa
4 years ago

Doc, it’s Karen. Karen does all that stuff.

Mcgeehee
Mcgeehee
4 years ago

The Nuremberg Trials also abolished involuntary injections of anything — after the Jews were injected with all sorts of experiments including bleach, mercury, and fluoride. And yet we have vaccine “mandates” (i.e., forced injections).

setnaffa
4 years ago

Mcgeehee “That’s different because shut up” is how it has been explained to us so far.

ChickenHead
ChickenHead
4 years ago

“Do you know how fast you were going, sir?”

“A little slower than you were going when you pulled me over, officer?”

Andy
Andy
4 years ago

Every good military Officer, NCO, soldier/airman, etc., is expected to snitch on not only strangers who violate HPCON levels, but your friends and even family members as well, even if its costs them their job/career. I guess next will be snitching on those who didn’t snitch, lol.

setnaffa
4 years ago

Andy, that’s how the Gestapo and later the Stasi ran Germany. It’s how the Kims run North Norkistan. It’s how Moon will run South Norkistan unless the Sharia Flu takes hold.

Karen-ization is a terrible wasting disease that cripples those who refuse to fight it, shriveling their souls.

2ID Doc
2ID Doc
4 years ago

Setnaffa you are right. Karen is my ex-wife and is still a witch spelled with a B.

setnaffa
4 years ago

LOL. Sorry Doc, didn’t mean to get personal!!

johnhenry
johnhenry
4 years ago

2ID Doc: The way I’ve always heard that expression is “She puts the ‘B’ in ‘Witch'”.

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