"To Secure Excellent Investigative Police Officers from the MZ Generation, Drastic Conditions Needed for Hiring 'Specialized Agents'"

National Police Agency and Korean Law Professors Association Joint Seminar
Discussion on Measures to Realize 'Responsible Investigation'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwanju] To secure excellent investigative police personnel from the MZ generation, there is a call to increase the weight of legal knowledge in police recruitment and to implement recruitment under exceptional conditions to attract talent.

Professor Lee Geun-woo of Gachon University Law Department, speaking on the 12th at a joint seminar organized by the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency and the Korean Association of Law Professors, presented on the topic "Measures to Strengthen Investigative Police? Focusing on New Recruitment Systems," stating, "For accurate investigations, investigators must have legal knowledge related to the relevant field," and added, "The direction of increasing the weight of legal knowledge in police recruitment should be considered."

Professor Lee particularly focused on the phenomenon of avoidance of police investigative departments, arguing, "It is necessary to consider recruiting investigative specialists under exceptional conditions as new hires at the rank of police sergeant." He explained, "With such an attempt, a considerable number of excellent law-related major students nationwide will be faced with a dilemma between entering law school and preparing to become economic investigation specialists," and added, "Issues such as assignment withdrawal or job turnover could also be somewhat resolved."

Alongside this, Professor Lee Seong-gi of Sungshin Women's University Law Department, who presented on the topic "Measures to Strengthen Investigative Police Capabilities for Implementing Citizen-Centered Responsible Investigations," stated, "The most urgent issue to strengthen investigative capabilities is the reinforcement of investigative personnel," and "However, since public trust in the capabilities of investigative police must precede, it is necessary to establish a system to ensure not only the qualifications of investigative police officers but also the fairness of investigations."

Professor Kang Su-jin of Korea University Law School, who participated as a discussant, suggested, "There is a need for sufficient judgment ability and safeguards for fairness regarding conditions for initiating investigations, such as criminal suspicion and the appropriateness of investigations," and "It is necessary not only to require knowledge of law, such as criminal law or criminal procedure law, at the selection stage but also to ensure transparency and fairness from the investigation initiation stage through personnel management, organizational composition, division of duties within the organization, and command and supervision systems."

The academic conference was held under the main theme "Measures to Strengthen Recruitment of Excellent Investigative Police Personnel and Internal Training of Investigative Police to Enhance Police Investigation Expertise after Investigation Authority Reform," providing a forum to discuss various measures to strengthen the police's responsible investigation capabilities.

Kim Chang-ryong, Commissioner of the National Police Agency, in his congratulatory remarks, said, "The National Police Agency is transforming into a human rights-friendly investigative police force that resonates with the public by expanding preventive and proactive police activities," and promised, "We will continue relentless reform and institutional innovation so that the public can benefit from responsible police investigations."

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