Police Recruitment Transfer to Metropolitan and Provincial Police Agencies Under Review... Written Exams to Be Administered by Central Police Academy

In the future, police officer recruitment exams are expected to be directly conducted by metropolitan and provincial police agencies and affiliated institutions, rather than by the National Police Agency headquarters. To this end, manuals for each stage of the recruitment process will also be developed.

According to a comprehensive report by Asia Economy on the 17th, the National Police Agency is currently promoting a plan to transfer execution tasks such as exam administration, which are currently handled by the headquarters, to affiliated institutions and metropolitan and provincial police agencies. To facilitate this transfer, the agency has established a new position of Talent Selection Officer, appointed at the rank of Senior Superintendent, and is operating it on a temporary basis until January 2025.

Currently, the police recruitment process, from planning to implementation, is fully managed by the Education Policy Officer at the National Police Agency headquarters. However, since the headquarters is responsible for tasks ranging from exam question preparation to conducting some competitive recruitment for experienced officers (Gyeongchae), there have been ongoing criticisms that the policy review function for improving and developing the recruitment system is relatively weak. In response, the National Police Agency is considering gradually transferring the responsibility for preparing written exam questions, currently under the Talent Policy Division at headquarters, to the Talent Selection Division next year and to the Central Police Academy the following year. There is also a possibility of establishing a dedicated Talent Selection department at the Central Police Academy for this purpose.

Additionally, the National Police Agency is promoting the creation of recruitment manuals that provide guidelines for each stage of the recruitment process and is also considering establishing a separate exam question preparation center. The likely locations for this center include the Talent Selection Center within the former Police University (located in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province) or a site within the Central Police Academy. This initiative aims to address issues raised regarding police recruitment exams, such as inconsistent difficulty levels in written exams, gender fairness in physical tests, and objectivity in oral exams for experienced officer recruitment.

These measures are expected to be completed within two years at the latest, as the operation period of the Talent Selection Officer’s office, responsible for the transfer of recruitment tasks, is limited until January 2025. Currently, two departments within the Talent Selection Officer’s office are actively reviewing these plans. First, the Talent Policy Division is preparing a plan to readjust recruitment tasks among the National Police Agency, educational institutions, and metropolitan and provincial police agencies, and is responsible for legal revisions and budget procurement necessary for the transfer. It is also conducting organizational and personnel reinforcement at educational institutions and identifying and reviewing recruitment system improvement tasks.

The Talent Selection Division will comprehensively manage the planning and implementation of recruitment exams for police officers, including open competitive exams, experienced officer recruitment, promotion exams, and integrated general staff recruitment exams at headquarters. It will also respond to parliamentary and civil complaints related to police recruitment and manage budget operations and statistics. A National Police Agency official stated, “The goal is to enhance the professionalism and capabilities of the police through improvements in the talent selection and recruitment system,” adding, “We plan to actively identify and pursue tasks for recruitment system improvement.”

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