One in Three Police Officers Facing Criminal Charges Receives Light Discipline: Controversy Over Shielding Their Own

Police Officer Boo, assigned to the Jeju Seobu Police Station, is accused of falsely closing missing person cases, including the case involving a person named Chang.

On the 1st of this month, Officer Boo was sent to the prosecution under detention on charges of dereliction of duty and falsification of official electronic records.

During the police investigation, Officer Boo even offered an absurd excuse, stating, "I falsely closed the cases due to the pressure of handling them."

The police are also conducting a full inspection of missing person cases handled by Officer Boo from March of last year to July of this year.

According to data submitted by the Korean National Police Agency to People Power Party lawmaker Park Sang-woong, 209 police officers were indicted for crimes related to their official duties between 2021 and July of this year.

This includes leakage of investigative information, violence during investigations, and charges of tampering with official records or dereliction of duty, which Officer Boo is facing.

By charge, the leakage of official secrets was the most common at 70 individuals, followed by 32 for violations of the Personal Information Protection Act, and 31 for drafting false official documents.

Abuse of authority and falsification of official electronic records accounted for 20 individuals each.

They were followed by 10 individuals for aiding criminals, 10 for dereliction of duty, and 7 for destruction of evidence.

Among the 209 indicted officers, 178 were referred to formal trials.

Regarding internal disciplinary results, 112 police officers received heavy disciplinary actions such as dismissal, removal from office, or demotion.

On the other hand, 41 officers received light disciplinary actions such as reprimand or pay cuts, while 21 cases stopped at disposition levels such as warnings or cautions.

This means roughly one in three received light discipline or below.

As criticisms continue that internal police controls must be strengthened due to a series of shoddy investigations, the police leadership has also announced renewals.

Acting National Police Agency Commissioner General Kim Jong-cheol ordered improvements to investigative capabilities and internal control systems during his first nationwide police leadership meeting since taking office on the 3rd, stating, "If we lose the trust of the public, the police have no reason to exist."

Reported by Yeo Hyeon-gyo | Video by Na Hong-hee | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.