[Anchor]

In this incident, a police officer lied and unilaterally closed a missing person case, yet the police had no internal system whatsoever to prevent it. Criticisms are mounting that fundamental changes to the missing persons investigation system are urgently needed.

Reporter Kwon Min-kyu has the story.

[Reporter]

As the fallout from the Jang Mi-ran case grows, the National Police Agency has unveiled countermeasures, promising to strengthen the procedures for handling missing persons cases.

The agency announced the introduction of a dual verification procedure requiring a middle manager, the head of the detective division, to directly approve case closures in the "Missing Persons Profiling System," which records missing persons information.

However, experts point out that even with this system, if the initial investigator submits a false report, there is no way to verify it. They emphasize that objective physical evidence must be submitted alongside the initial report.

[Lee Woong-hyuk, Professor of Police Science, Konkuk University: "There needs to be a requirement to attach supporting materials verifying whether the (missing person) is safe. If the (practitioner) submits a false report, nothing changes even if they approve it...."]

They particularly emphasize that making contact with a missing person must be systematized into a manual requiring an in-person meeting to confirm their safety.

[Lee Gun-soo, Professor of Police Administration, Baekseok University: "They must meet face-to-face. They need to go and check why they disappeared. It has been wrong from the start. A missing person case is life. It is a race against time and a matter of human life."]

Experts note that if a missing person is an adult without disabilities, they are classified as a "runaway," making searches difficult, which makes the initial investigator's on-site judgment more crucial than anything else.

This is because while children, people with disabilities, and dementia patients allow for checks of CCTV footage under the Missing Children Act, adults require a warrant first unless cooperating agencies assist.

[Kwak Dae-kyung, Professor of Police Administration, Dongguk University: "It is important to quickly and clearly identify the nature of an adult missing person case in the early stages. There are aspects that are currently ambiguous."]

Experts also emphasize actively reviewing cases from advanced countries that classify missing persons by risk level rather than age.

Regions such as New Jersey in the United States classify missing persons with a high risk of injury or death as "high-risk missing persons," while Japan handles missing cases by designating individuals with potential for suicide as "specific missing persons" and actively searching for them.

(Camera: Bae Moon-san, Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing: Kim Jong-tae | Design: Lim Chan-hyeok)