Oh Se-hoon, Sharp Criticism of the 'Autonomous Police System'... "Personnel and Command Authority Excessively Restricted, Fundamental Improvement Needed"

'100 Days of the Autonomous Police System' Marks with a Statement Criticizing the Current System... "Mayor Appoints Only 1 of 7 Committee Members... Inherent Limitations Are Too Great"
Treated as an Appendix to the Adjustment of Police Investigation Authority, Claims It Started in a "Distorted Form"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon criticized the autonomous police committee, one of the administrative organizations of Seoul City, saying that the mayor's personnel authority and command authority over the committee are excessively limited, regarding the autonomous police system after 100 days since its launch.

On the 12th, Mayor Oh stated in a position paper titled "Is it Autonomous Police or Police Autonomy?" that "On the 100th day of implementing the autonomous police system, we urge the government and the National Assembly to promptly start fundamental improvements to the autonomous police system, which is based on a dual model transferring the organization and personnel of the provincial police agency to the provincial government."

Mayor Oh pointed out that only one of the seven members of the autonomous police committee can be appointed by the mayor, highlighting the system's inherent limitations. The committee consists of seven members: one appointed by the mayor, two by the city council, one by the superintendent of education, one by the National Police Commission, and two recommended by a committee including the district mayors' council, district council chairpersons' council, courts, and the National Police Agency.

Mayor Oh said, "We must immediately form the autonomous police committee, but the mayor can appoint only one out of seven members," adding, "Although the autonomous police committee is one of Seoul City's administrative organizations, when selecting its members, the mayor only formally issues appointment letters in his name, while six of the seven members must be accepted as decided by other institutions."

He also criticized the current autonomous police system for starting in a distorted form, treated as an appendix to the adjustment of investigative authority between prosecutors and police. He claimed that because the goal was to pass the National Assembly by the end of last year, the issues raised by experts were not resolved before its launch.

Mayor Oh explained, "Although it is called the autonomous police system, all police officers are national public officials. The local police stations and precincts closest to citizens' daily lives are national police departments," adding, "During the recent response to the COVID-19 cluster infection at Garak Market, police and city administrative forces had to be concentrated for an all-out response within the golden time, but the mayor had no command authority over police powers related to quarantine, so time was wasted asking for police cooperation case by case."

He also expressed dissatisfaction with the promotion appointment authority. According to current laws, the mayor only has promotion appointment authority over junior officers such as inspectors and lieutenants, so he argued that he cannot effectively exercise command authority.

Mayor Oh raised his voice, saying, "In reality, the promotion review committee that decides promotions can only be established by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and each police station, not by Seoul City," and "Making an elected mayor, who should bear heavy responsibilities even in the police domain after the implementation of the autonomous police system, a mere figurehead?what kind of local autonomy is this, in which country and era?"

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