'Unified Autonomous Police' Submitted to National Assembly's Public Administration Committee... Discussion Expected to Face Challenges

Maintaining National Police, Only Administrative and Command Duties Decentralized
Changed from Complete Separation 'Dual System'
Field Officers Concerned "May End Up Handling Only Local Government Complaints"
Citizens' Coalition Statement "Contrary to Police Reform Direction"
Opposition Expected to Attack... Assemblyman Seobeomsoo Conducts Survey

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] As the bill to introduce a 'unified model' autonomous police system, which maintains the national police organization while only decentralizing administrative and command authority, is submitted to the National Assembly's relevant committee, fierce opposition is expected from frontline police officers, opposition parties, and civic groups.

According to the National Police Agency and the National Assembly on the 10th, the 'Police Act Total Revision Bill' and the 'Police Officers Act Total Revision Bill,' both sponsored by Kim Young-bae of the Democratic Party of Korea, were submitted to the plenary session of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee (PASCOM) starting at 10 a.m. today. These bills include the introduction of the unified model autonomous police system, which was revised through consultations among the ruling party, government, and the Blue House.

The autonomous police system pursued since the current administration's inauguration was a system completely separating personnel, budget, and organization from the national police. However, on July 30, the ruling party, government, and Blue House announced that they would introduce an autonomous police system that keeps the existing organization intact and only decentralizes police administrative duties. The opposition parties plan to launch an offensive against this unilateral change of the model by the ruling party, government, and Blue House, which omitted the opinion-gathering process.

Seo Beom-su, a member of the People Power Party, is currently conducting a survey among frontline police officers regarding their support or opposition to the unified model and concerns about it. A staff member from Seo's office said, "As of the police agency's work report on July 28, the dual model was still being considered," adding, "If an autonomous police system is to be introduced, it should be a model arrived at through deliberation, but it suddenly changed to the unified model." He further explained, "Based on the survey results, we plan to point out areas where the voices of police officers working on the front lines of public safety have not been reflected."

Frontline police officers continue to express opposition to the unified model through the police internal network and social networking services (SNS). There is concern that while the organization remains the same, local governments' duties might be solely burdened by the police. A frontline police officer (lieutenant) posted on SNS, "It is true that in order to gain investigative authority, the local police handed over daily civil complaint duties agreed upon by the provincial governors and local police chiefs," which received supportive comments such as "Half-baked autonomous police" and "The top leadership has increased to three (National Police Chief, Provincial Governor, and National Investigation Headquarters Chief)."

Progressive civic groups have also joined the criticism. The Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) recently issued a statement saying, "It contradicts the direction of police reform aimed at decentralizing power of law enforcement agencies," and urged, "The autonomous police system, which goes against democratic control and local decentralization, must be thoroughly revised." Given the widespread opposition to the unified model autonomous police system, it is expected that the National Assembly's deliberation process will face difficulties. A National Police Agency official said, "After submission to the PASCOM, the bill will be referred to the subcommittee for full discussion."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.