Internal Complaints Over 'De Facto Reduction' in Police Personnel Reallocation

"Reduction of Detective Personnel" Voices
Calming Concerns by Sharing Police Agency's Progress

Police Agency building. [Photo by Police Agency]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] The police have prioritized expanding investigative personnel and protecting socially vulnerable groups, leading to a reallocation of manpower. However, some frontline detectives are voicing opposition, calling it a "de facto reduction in personnel."

The Police Agency's Planning and Coordination Office and the National Investigation Headquarters shared the progress of the manpower reallocation on the police internal network on the 17th. This was reportedly done to explain the necessity and seek understanding amid rising dissatisfaction at the field level regarding the reallocation.

The Police Agency announced that through adjustments in the Police Mobile Unit personnel, integration of investigation and criminal support teams, adjustment of School Police Officers (SPO) personnel, and reassignment of victim protection duties, they secured 541 personnel for investigative functions and 442 personnel for protecting socially vulnerable groups. Within investigative functions, 507 personnel are assigned to the Economic and Cyber teams, and 34 to investigation inspectors. Additionally, 222 personnel are added to the Women and Youth Violent Crime team, 150 to the Stalking Task Force, and 70 to victim protection.

The Police Agency views the need to secure personnel related to protecting socially vulnerable groups as essential, citing a significant increase in investigative workload following the adjustment of investigative authority and a rise in demand for crime victim safety measures. In fact, the average processing time per case increased from 70.8 days in 2018 to 110.5 days last year for the Cyber team, and from 60.5 days to 80.9 days for the Economic team. The number of crime victim safety measures also rose by 68%, from 14,773 cases in 2020 to 24,801 cases last year.

On the ground, there is opposition, with some saying, "The abolition of the Life Crime Team introduced in 2015 is effectively a reduction in detective personnel." One police officer posted on the internal network, "Removing personnel from detective teams deployed for various tasks such as assemblies, missing persons, and violent crimes is ultimately just a reshuffling."

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