Authorities poles apart over police system
Gov’t to push regional police reform by 2020
The government is pushing to introduce a regional autonomous police system as early as 2020.
This is timed with the handover of many of the national police duties to local units.
Cheong Wa Dae’s Committee on Local Autonomy Development recently unveiled a plan dubbed “The Autonomous Police Act” where the local police system will be introduced through a pilot program in five major cities and provinces starting next year.
The system is scheduled to be expanded to all 17 major cities and provinces in the near future, the committee stated.
Currently, the nation’s police forces, except on Jeju, are under the direct control of the central National Police Agency (NPA).
President Moon Jae-in is seeking to decentralize the police to prevent excessive force and abuse of power. This was part of his key campaign pledge to reform the country’s legal and law enforcement agencies.
This reform has been backed by the public, calling for stricter checks and balances between prosecutors and police.
The details of the plan would need further ironing out, including the duties the local police will take over from the national police and how much investigative authority police should be given.
“We are going to have active discussions on the scope and content of the duties that would be delegated to regional police units based on recommendations from the police reform committee,” said Chung Soon-gwan, head of the committee.
The proposal also includes maintaining the current national police organization and creating separate local police forces, which will be directed by heads of local agencies.
This system would be similar to the working relationship between the FBI and state police in the United States.
NPA Commissioner General Lee Chul-sung said he prefers to delegate 40 percent of his agency’s duties to local police that can investigation cases involving sexual assaults and school and domestic violence.
Prosecutors’ opposition
The police reform also involves realigning prosecutors’ investigative authority.
Justice Minister Park Sang-ki, Interior and Security Minister Kim Boo-kyum and senior presidential secretary for civil affairs Cho Kuk have recently held several private meetings and came to an agreement to drastically reduce the prosecution’s investigative power.
The meeting was held without the presence of Prosecutor General Moon Moo-il, who expressed discontent over the government’s law enforcement policy.
Moon argued the reform could hinder its role, adding establishing a sound regional autonomous police system should come first before redistributing and reallocating the two sides’ investigative power.
“The prosecution will just be limited to deciding whether an indictment is necessary after cases are handed over to us from the police, should the government push forward with its plan,” Prosecutor General Moon said.
Prosecutors currently monopolize the right to file arrest warrants, as well as the authority to take over an ongoing criminal case from law enforcement.
Since 1997, police have battled the prosecution on several occasions to gain and maintain independence in carrying out investigations.
But they have only faced strong opposition from prosecutors and some lawmakers.
Cheong Wa Dae’s committee said Prosecutor General Moon’s demand to establish the regional autonomous police system as a precondition for handing over some of the prosecution’s investigative powers is out of the question.
It stressed issues concerning the regional autonomous police system should not be used as a political power game.
“The proposed police system is part of reform,” the committee said.
The government will push forward with it whether or not involved parties can narrow their differences over prosecutors’ investigative authority, it added.