Police Shift Security Policy to 'Citizen-Centric Service' and Push for English Name Change

The police are pushing to shift their public security policy from a reactive agency focused on handling reports and cases to a "citizen-centric service" that proactively identifies and resolves what the public needs.

Acting National Police Commissioner General Kim Jong-chul said during a weekly meeting today (October 19), "We will strive harder to regain public trust by realizing a citizen-centric police service that reaches out first and assists closely."

To achieve this, the police plan to build a system allowing individuals to check the progress of their reported cases at any time and expand the scope of notifications regarding case-handling statuses.

For crime victims, relevant systems will be reorganized to repeatedly provide information on victim rights, protection, and support linkage measures, which were previously only provided during the investigation process.

In addition, major public security indicators such as 112 calls and traffic accidents, as well as traffic inconveniences caused by rallies and events, will be posted at police offices and websites so that citizens can easily grasp the public security status at a glance.

Along with these measures, marking "Police Week" this week, the Korean National Police Agency is pushing to change its English name from the current "Korea National Police Agency" to "Korea National Police Service."

While the Korean name remains the same, the initiative aims to clarify the organization's orientation by replacing "Agency," which connotes a powerful authority, with "Service," which signifies public benefit.

The police explained that "Service" is also used in the English names of foreign law enforcement and domestic state bodies, such as the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) of London, the Toronto Police Service (TPS) in Canada, the National Tax Service (NTS), the National Intelligence Service (NIS), and the Prosecution Service (PS) in South Korea.

(Photo: Provided by Yonhap News TV, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.