"Afraid of More Work, Falsely Closed Cases"... Absurd Motive for Crime

[Anchor]

A Jeju police officer who falsely closed missing person cases, where the individuals were later found dead, has been sent to the prosecution with all charges admitted. It was found that he stated he thought it would be fine since the missing persons were adults, and he simply covered it up because transferring the cases felt burdensome.

Reporter Kwon Min-ji from JIBS.

[Reporter]

Police Officer Boo, who is accused of falsely closing missing person cases, emerges from the detention center a week after his arrest.

[(Do you have anything to say to the bereaved families? More false closures came up in the full inspection; why did you do it?) ......]

Police Officer Boo is accused of falsely notifying the reporter of a missing person that he had spoken directly with a missing individual surnamed Jang, regarding a missing person report filed last May.

He closed the case by entering a false reason, "death by traffic accident," into the missing person profiling system.

In a missing person report for a man in his 60s filed last July, he also notified that contact had been made, and similarly closed the case after falsely inputting that the person's whereabouts had been discovered.

Both missing persons were later found dead.

During police investigations, Police Officer Boo fully admitted to the charges.

Regarding the motive for the crime, he stated that he thought complacently because the missing persons were ordinary adults, and he falsely closed the cases due to the burden of transferring them.

Based on the analysis of five profilers, the police concluded that a buildup of work burden and stress on an introverted and evasive personality led to a loss of self-control.

[Jung Tae-woon / Head of Investigation Division, Jeju Provincial Police Agency: Amid fatigue from accumulated work burdens and heavy responsibilities, work-slack motives were the main background, combined with the suspect's evasive and irresponsible attitude.]

However, as it was confirmed that internal reports to superiors were made in both cases, the task of clarifying responsibility beyond Police Officer Boo still remains.

The police transferred Police Officer Boo into custody on charges including dereliction of duty, approximately 20 days after initiating the investigation against him.

(Video Shooting: Kang Myung-chul, Ko Seung-han / JIBS)

Kwon Min-ji, JIBS
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.