It Was Not the First Time... Police Officer Arrested for 'False Case Closure'

[Anchor]

Police have urgently arrested an officer in charge for falsely closing a missing person case in Jeju. It was revealed that this officer also falsely closed another missing person case that occurred last month. The missing person in that case was ultimately found dead.

Reporter Lee Se-hyeon.

[Reporter]

This is CCTV footage showing Jang Mi-ran for the last time on May 13.

A missing person report was filed at 6:43 p.m. two days later, and police conducted door-to-door searches around Hallim Port in Jeju, where the mobile phone location signal appeared, but failed to find Jang.

Meanwhile, Police Officer A, in his 30s belonging to the Jeju Western Police Station, closed the 112 emergency report by claiming, "I spoke with the missing person on the phone and was told not to reveal the location." Following this, police halted the search at 9:16 p.m.

Investigations revealed that when closing the case, Officer A completely deleted Jang's information from the police internal "missing person profiling" system.

Officer A also failed to follow the internal police "missing person investigation manual."

To prevent individuals from obstructing investigations by pretending to be the missing person over the phone, police guidelines mandate that officers must face-to-face verify the missing person when closing a case, but this rule was ignored.

Police also confirmed that Officer A had falsely closed another missing person case, which had been marked as resolved on July 2, in the same manner as the case involving Jang Mi-ran.

In regard to last month's case, a re-report was filed yesterday (August 21), uncovering Officer A's false closure, and the missing person was ultimately found dead.

Police have stated that there appears to be no relation to crime in the case of the second missing person.

This afternoon, the Jeju Provincial Police Agency urgently arrested Officer A on charges including dereliction of duty, forgery and uttering of official electronic records, and obstruction of official duties by fraudulent means.

Experts emphasize the need for specific legislation addressing missing person cases.

[Interview / Lee Geon-su, Professor of Police and Criminal Investigation at Baekseok University : We need to enact a missing persons act without age restrictions so that investigations can begin immediately whenever anyone—whether a child, woman, or adolescent—goes missing. Missing person cases are a battle against time. That is why a law is necessary.]

Additionally, police arrested a teenage male, B, on charges of violating the Stalking Punishment Act after he sent 17 text messages and made calls to the phone number disclosed by Jang's family, stating, "If you let me hear groaning sounds, I will help you find the missing person."

Police stated that they have also taken emergency measure No. 2 against B, prohibiting approach via telecommunications.

(Video Editing: Lee Seung-yeol, Design: Cho Su-in)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.