[Anchor]

It is not a new issue for police to face criticism over poor initial responses in missing person cases. Measures have been poured out every time a problem arises, but manuals were once again ignored this time.

Reporter Kim Minjun has the story.

[Reporter]

The missing persons case of the so-called "Daegu frog boys," whose remains were found 11 years later, and the disappearance of Song Hye-hee in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, in 1999, both drew criticism that the police failed to actively conduct initial searches by dismissing them as "simple runaways."

Following legislation in 2005 that imposed an obligation on police to "promptly conduct initial searches" for missing children, two elementary school students in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, went missing and were found murdered in 2007. The following year, police announced the establishment of dedicated missing persons investigation teams at frontline police stations nationwide.

When the 2017 middle school girl murder and body abandonment case involving Lee Young-hak, the so-called "miced-tooth father," erupted, the police required all missing persons cases to be reported to the head of the division, and up to the chief of the police station if criminal involvement was suspected.

However, during the 2019 murder of her ex-husband by Go Yu-jung, the police concluded it was more likely a simple runaway case of an adult male rather than a crime, and the investigation only began in earnest after the bereaved family directly secured and submitted on-site footage.

As a result, the police overhauled their missing persons investigation manual once again in 2020, which remains in use today.

The manual acquired by SBS stipulates that cases should be closed only after face-to-face contact with the missing person, and if face-to-face contact is refused, safety must be verified even through video calls. However, in the recent false-closure cases, the manual proved useless as Police Officers Bu and Gyeong both processed the cases through lies.

Although the rules require holding a countermeasures meeting hosted by the division head if the whereabouts are not confirmed within 12 hours of receiving a report, managers were not even aware of the false reports made by Officer Bu.

The police are once again hastily preparing measures to ban investigators from self-closing cases or closing missing persons cases "without face-to-face contact" within the missing person management system.

Given that measures poured out with every missing person case have repeatedly failed to be properly observed, it will likely be difficult to recover shattered trust if the measures recently unveiled by the police also fail to lead to the establishment of an effective system.

(Camera Journalist: Seol Chi-hwan | Video Editor: So Ji-hye | Designer: Seo Hyun-jung)