"Taking a Photo Booth Picture with a Missing Person?" Debate Erupts Over New Police Guidelines

The false closure of a missing person report in Jeju drew widespread public outrage.

Following the incident, the police introduced new related criteria.

However, diverse reactions are emerging regarding its practical effectiveness.

The National Office of Investigation under the Korean National Police Agency implemented new handling standards for missing persons cases across police stations and district units nationwide starting on August 28.

The guidelines prohibit closing missing persons cases through non-face-to-face methods alone, such as phone calls, even for cases presumed to be simple runaways, and instead require police officers to meet the missing person in person to verify their safety.

Additionally, as objective evidence that the missing person was actually met, officers are required to leave behind a photo taken together with the missing person or fingerprint data.

Regarding this, some netizens expressed the opinion that "actual evidentiary data is necessary."

However, the majority of reactions were critical, with comments such as "Taking a selfie with a missing person?" and "What is this, are we supposed to take a four-cut photo booth picture with the police?"

Concerns were also raised, such as "Nowadays, photos can be created with AI, so what happens if they are manipulated?"

Critics also pointed out that "rather than being bound to authentication methods, management and supervision of the case closure process should be strengthened."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.