Seoul Bar Association Introduces Judicial Police Evaluation System Following Judge and Prosecutor Assessments

Seoul Bar Association / Screenshot from homepage

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The Seoul Bar Association (President Kim Jung-wook), which has conducted annual evaluations of judges and prosecutors, has introduced an evaluation system for the police.

On the 7th, the Seoul Bar Association announced that it will implement the judicial police evaluation system starting this month.

The Seoul Bar Association explained the background, stating, "With the adjustment of investigative authority between prosecutors and police, the police have secured adjusted investigative authority in addition to their existing large-scale organization and personnel. Accordingly, the need for democratic control and oversight of the judicial police is increasing."

It added, "There have also been issues raised regarding cases where the police, who now have the authority to conclude primary investigations, reject complaints, delay investigations, or close cases without prosecution for unclear reasons."

The operation method is similar to the existing evaluation systems for judges and prosecutors: affiliated members (lawyers) submit evaluation forms for the judicial police officers in charge of cases they handled this year, and the Seoul Bar Association compiles these and delivers the results to relevant agencies.

The Seoul Bar Association stated that after guiding its members, it plans to start operating the system from mid-month.

The Seoul Bar Association created a total of seven evaluation items across three evaluation areas: ▲Just Police ▲Police as Protectors of Human Rights and Law ▲Police Proficient in Duties.

First, the Just Police area includes three evaluation items: ▲Morality and Integrity (10 points), ▲Independence and Neutrality (10 points), and ▲Fairness in Procedure (10 points).

In the Police as Protectors of Human Rights and Law area, there are two items: ▲Human Rights Awareness and Courtesy (15 points) and ▲Compliance with Legal Procedures (15 points). In the Police Proficient in Duties area, two items were set: ▲Job Competence, Diligence, and Promptness (20 points) and ▲Persuasiveness and Flexibility in Exercising Investigative Authority (20 points).

The options for each item consist of five levels: A (Very Good), B (Good), C (Average), D (Poor), and E (Very Poor). Additionally, a subjective evaluation item for specific cases was added as another evaluation area.

The Seoul Bar Association stated that the Judicial Police Evaluation System Preparation Task Force (Chairman Lee Jae-heon), which prepared this system, set the evaluation items largely identical to the current investigative prosecutor evaluation items to ensure consistency with the existing prosecutor evaluation.

Also, the Task Force established standards such as ▲each member can only evaluate the judicial police officer in charge of the cases they handled to ensure objectivity, ▲each member can evaluate the same judicial police officer only once, and ▲evaluations without clear or verifiable names and affiliations will be invalid, the Seoul Bar Association reported.

The Seoul Bar Association expressed hope that "the first-ever judicial police evaluation system will contribute not only to sound oversight and checks on the judicial police but also to promoting communication and cooperation systems with investigative agencies such as the National Police Agency, thereby progressively settling the changed criminal justice procedures and fostering a proper investigative culture."

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