[Chamtrue?] Weakening of Public Authority, Are Police Holding Back?

Emphasizing Strengthening Law Enforcement... Still Quick to Blame Individual Police Officers
Experts Say "Law Enforcement Should Be Strengthened Through Police Duty Training"

[Asia Economy Reporters Byungseon Gong, Daehyun Kim] "Korean police are cautious and passive, only able to provide minimal defense."

Following President Yoon Seok-yeol's recent directive to frontline police agencies to consider expanding protective equipment such as 'one firearm per officer,' online criticism has continued, stating that 'law enforcement power that has fallen to the bottom must be strengthened.' Jeong Woo-taek, a member of the People Power Party, also said, "There are concerns that while violent criminals have been rampant in recent years, law enforcement power has weakened."

According to the nationwide statistics on crime occurrence and arrests from the National Police Agency on the 2nd, the number of offenses related to official duties reached 9,366 last year. The police estimate that about 80% of these were directed at police officers. More than 7,000 cases of obstruction of police officers' official duties occur annually. However, the total number of obstruction of official duties cases has been decreasing, with 11,545 cases in 2019 and 10,789 in 2020.

Experts also agree that Korean police law enforcement power remains weak. While the police have emphasized restrained law enforcement power, they have recently advocated for strengthening it, but it is still insufficient.

In particular, there have been many criticisms that verification of malicious complaints is inadequate, causing police officers to perform their duties passively. Professor Geonsu Lee of the Department of Police Science at Baekseok University said, "Protecting law enforcement power from malicious complaints will improve public safety levels," adding, "If the current Hearing, Audit, and Human Rights Officer system includes members from citizens and external experts from various fields to verify malicious complaints, it will secure both credibility and law enforcement power."

Professor Dowoo Kim of the Department of Police Science at Gyeongnam National University stated, "When complaints come in, instead of properly verifying them, the responsibility is immediately shifted to the related police officer. If the individual officer becomes intimidated, it creates a vicious cycle where law enforcement power is again criticized as weak."

Legal protections for police officers involved in related legal issues are also inadequate. The personal responsibility police officers must bear in disputes related to law enforcement actions is too great. Professor Kim said, "In the United States, where law enforcement power is strong, the manuals and response guidelines favor police officers to the extent that a woman can patrol alone." Germany strictly limits active police responses to avoid infringing on citizens' personal rights but allows proactive intervention in criminal acts. In the UK, assaulting a police officer can result in a life sentence, and in Japan, obstruction of official duties is considered harm to the state, preventing the police from allowing perpetrators to settle with victims."

There was also a suggestion that police job training should be strengthened to avoid giving excuses for obstruction of police work. According to a paper published this year by Assistant Professor Jangwook Lee of the Department of Police Science at Ulsan University titled "Analysis and Suggestions on Acquittal Cases of Obstruction of Official Duties Against Police Officers," among 43 acquittal cases of police officers for obstruction of official duties in local and district courts nationwide from 2020 to the end of last year, 28 cases (65.1%) were due to 'illegal official duties' by the police officers.

Specifically, there were 15 cases of illegal arrest of a suspect caught in the act, 6 cases of unjustified or excessive use of physical force, 4 cases of searches conducted without following due process, 2 cases of warrant execution, and 1 case of voluntary accompaniment.

Assistant Professor Lee pointed out, "At incident scenes, there are many cases where police officers exercise law enforcement power without legality due to misjudgment of the situation, sudden incidents, or emotional responses to citizen protests. In such cases, giving impunity to resisters exacerbates the disregard for law enforcement power," and emphasized the need to regularize legal education.

He also proposed activating a 'field coaching' function where officers dispatched to a reported scene can receive remote advice and instructions from the control room if they are unable to make clear legal judgments quickly.

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