Why Did a Jeju Police Officer Erroneously Close Missing Persons Cases? The Mystery of the Motive

Questions continue to mount regarding the motive of a current police officer in Jeju who has been arrested on charges of falsely closing a missing person case.

As Police Officer A still denies the charges, multiple questions are being raised, such as "Why was the missing person report arbitrarily closed?" and "What personal gain was there for him?"

Jang Mi-ran (37) left the accommodation where she had been staying long-term at 10:15 p.m. on May 12.

Her boyfriend, who was staying with her, reported her missing to 112 at 6:43 p.m. three days later on the 15th, and Police Officer A, who was on night duty at the time, received the report.

Upon receiving the missing person report, a police officer belonging to the Hallim Police Box of the Jeju Western Police Station met the reporter to listen to the situation and searched the area around Hallim Port, the location value of Jang's mobile phone.

Then, about two hours and 30 minutes after receiving the report, at 9:16 p.m., Police Officer A falsely told the reporter that "contact has been made, but she does not want her location to be known" and closed the case, leading the police who were searching to withdraw as well.

When closing the case, Police Officer A also deleted Jang's data from the missing person profiling (police missing person management) system management list.

It is suspected that at this time, Police Officer A selected the code "traffic accident casualty" in order to delete data related to Jang from the missing person profiling system.

In the missing person profiling system, type codes for special reasons such as unattended death or traffic accident casualties must be selected for related data to be deleted from the system management list.

On June 2 at 6:02 p.m., while on duty, Police Officer A received a report that a man in his 60s was missing, and similarly closed it falsely five and a half hours later at 11:38 p.m., just like in Jang's case.

However, the body presumed to be Jang was found 104 days after she went missing, and the body of the man in his 60s was found after 55 days.

In the police investigation, no records of Police Officer A communicating with Jang and others were found.

However, it was understood that Police Officer A is maintaining his previous stance and not admitting to the charges even while being investigated under arrest.

Then why did Police Officer A falsely close the missing person cases? In cases of missing adults, even if a missing person report is filed, the missing person often appears within a day or two, and even if a missing person is found following a report, the missing person often objects.

Therefore, the possibility is raised that Police Officer A also made a lax judgment and self-closed the case under the mistaken judgment that Jang would soon appear when the first report was received.

A police officer in the Jeju region, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "In adult missing person cases, there are quite a few instances that end with simple running away from home or voluntary return," adding, "After closing a case by faking that he contacted the missing person a few times and seeing no problems arise, he may have repeated the same method."

However, questions still remain.

The family of the missing man in his 60s also notified at the time of the report about circumstances indicating that trouble had occurred to the missing person's safety.

At this time, Police Officer A should have promptly checked whether the facts were true.

Furthermore, even if the identity of the missing person is confirmed, it offers little practical benefit, such as not leading to performance records for Police Officer A, and even if a missing person report is accepted, there is no particular increase in work.

It is an example that although Police Officer A received Jang's missing person report, the search was handled by the Hallim Police Box.

Officials from the police investigation department also reacted in phone calls regarding Police Officer A's false closure, saying, "It is totally incomprehensible" and "Even internally, people are wondering why the case was handled arbitrarily."

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