Jeju, Busan, Gangwon, Incheon... Autonomous Police Ordinance Bills Successively Announced for Legislation

Acceptance of Standard Ordinance Drafts in Daejeon, Gwangju, and Chungnam
Busan Inserts Clause for Committee Member Recusal
Gangwon Excludes Police Chief Opinion Hearing, etc.

On the 12th of last month, Jeon Hae-cheol, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, visited the Chungbuk Provincial Police Agency in Cheongju, Chungbuk. On that day, Minister Jeon checked the preparation status for the promotion of autonomous police and encouraged the police officers.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] Ahead of the full implementation of the autonomous police system in July, local governments are accelerating the enactment of ordinances that regulate the operation methods of the “City/Province Autonomous Police Committee (Autonomous Police Committee).”

According to local governments on the 22nd, since the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the National Police Agency distributed the standard ordinance for autonomous police on the 3rd of this month, eight local governments including Chungnam, Jeju, Gwangju, Daejeon, Gangwon, Busan, Sejong, and Incheon have drafted ordinances and are currently conducting legislative notices until last weekend. The standard ordinance includes necessary contents for the organization and operation of the Autonomous Police Committee, such as specific autonomous police duties, the appointment method of committee members, and support for public officials dispatched to the committee.

In the cases of Chungnam, Gwangju, and Daejeon, the standard ordinance was fully accepted with only minor wording modifications before issuing the legislative notice. Jeju, which has been operating autonomous police for 15 years, simplified the ordinance by deleting some provisions but accepted the overall framework of the standard ordinance. Busan newly inserted a clause on ‘disqualification, avoidance, and recusal of committee members,’ which is not present in other local government ordinances. This can be seen as emphasizing transparency in the operation of the Autonomous Police Committee. However, the clause allowing the city/provincial council to summon the committee chairperson if necessary was not reflected. In Incheon, instead of the existing ‘prevention of duplicate audits’ regulation, the ordinance stipulates that the Autonomous Police Committee will audit autonomous police affairs.

The most radical region is Gangwon Province. It stipulates that the scope of autonomous police affairs will be “adjusted by the Autonomous Police Committee in consultation with the Gangwon Police Chief after gathering the opinion of the provincial governor.” This goes a step further than other local ordinances, which require hearing the opinion of the city/provincial police chief if amendments are necessary. At the same time, it excluded provisions for organic linkage efforts between autonomous police and national affairs and for hearing the opinion of the National Police Agency Commissioner when necessary, and replaced the duplicate audit prevention clause to be coordinated with the Gangwon Police Chief instead of the National Police Agency Commissioner. The part requiring notification and hearing of opinions from the National Police Agency Commissioner during budget deliberation and resolution by the Autonomous Police Committee was also not reflected. This effectively excludes the National Police Agency Commissioner, who oversees the national police, from the ordinance. This shows that Gangwon Province places emphasis on ‘autonomy.’ However, concerns have been raised about excluding the National Police Agency Commissioner from the consultation process despite the coexistence of national police, autonomous police, and investigative police in police stations at all levels.

The police are working closely with local governments to accelerate the enactment of ordinances. Kim Chang-ryong, Commissioner of the National Police Agency, recently stated during a National Assembly briefing, “Currently, we are focusing on enacting city/province autonomous ordinances and forming autonomous police committees based on them,” adding, “We will ensure smooth progress without any setbacks.”

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