Increase of 1,137 Police Officer Positions in the First Half of the Year... Focus on Investigation Capability and Public Safety

Police Agency building. (Photo by Police Agency)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] In the first half of this year, 1,137 police officers nationwide will be added, focusing on investigative structure reform and public safety departments.

The National Police Agency announced on the 29th that the presidential decree revising the "Organization of the National Police Agency and Its Affiliated Institutions" will be promulgated and enforced starting from the 30th.

First, to enhance investigative expertise and strengthen counter-terrorism capabilities, Cyber Investigation Divisions will be established at Daejeon Police Agency and Jeonbuk Police Agency, and a Forensic Investigation Division will be newly created at Daejeon Police Agency. Additionally, Police Special Forces will be launched at Chungnam Police Agency and Jeonnam Police Agency.

The increase in personnel is focused on strengthening investigative departments and securing public safety in accordance with the adjustment of investigative authority. Each police station will add 165 officers to the Women and Juvenile Investigation units and 85 officers to the Narcotics Organized Crime Investigation units, and the number of personnel dedicated to unsolved cases at provincial police agencies will increase by 10. In particular, specialized personnel will be added in areas such as Dark Web information analysis (4 officers), crime proceeds tracking (6 officers), and financial crime specialization (3 officers).

Furthermore, 69 Crime Prevention Officers (CPO) and 64 Police Special Forces members will be added. In line with the abolition of the auxiliary police, 660 personnel will be added to the Police Mobile Units to replace them.

Rank upgrades will also be implemented to strengthen the command capabilities of middle managers. The rank of district police chiefs will be upgraded from Superintendent to Senior Superintendent (56 officers), and to enhance investigative command capabilities, the ranks of team leaders in investigative and criminal departments at police stations nationwide will be upgraded from Lieutenant to Superintendent (423 officers). Additionally, reflecting the increase in public safety demands, Hanam Police Station in Gyeonggi Province will be upgraded from a second-class station to a first-class station.

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