Commissioner General of Police holds relay communication meeting... Gathering opinions on organizational restructuring

Meeting with 100 Frontline Police Officers

Yoon Hee-geun, Commissioner of the National Police Agency, held a relay communication meeting over two days, inviting 100 frontline police officers from local police stations.

Yoon Hee-geun, Commissioner of the National Police Agency. [Photo by National Police Agency]

According to the National Police Agency on the 6th, Commissioner Yoon met with 25 police officers at the director level in the first session, 34 section and team chiefs in the second session, and 41 field officers in the third session. This meeting was organized to listen to the difficulties felt by frontline police officers amid the increasing demand for public safety across society and to seek improvement measures.

The attendees mostly agreed on the overall direction regarding organizational restructuring, such as the integration of the 112 emergency response department and the crime prevention department, but reported that there was considerable unrest among field staff. One participant mentioned a case at Gangseo Police Station where, despite an existing memorandum of understanding between the Community Safety Department and the district office regarding the hospitalization of mentally ill patients, local police officers belonging to the 112 situation room, which is a different department, were unable to utilize it effectively.

However, concerns were expressed that the newly established Mobile Patrol Unit (tentative name) and Criminal Mobile Unit (tentative name), created through the reduction of administrative personnel, might repeat the mistakes of past failed policies. Commissioner Yoon said, "Although the newly established organizations have completely different roles and functions from past organizations, confusion seems to arise because they share the same names," adding, "We will soon announce the new organization names along with detailed roles and functions."

There were concerns that the integration of the Cyber Investigation Bureau and the Scientific Investigation Officer into the Investigation Bureau and the Criminal Bureau, respectively, might reduce specialized investigative expertise. Commissioner Yoon stated that the actual investigative personnel at the police station level remain unchanged and that greater synergy is expected through organizational integration at the headquarters level.

Commissioner Yoon said, “I believe this was an opportunity to broaden mutual understanding by clearing up misunderstandings about parts that were incorrectly understood in the field,” and added, “As public expectations for a new image of the police are high, I hope everyone will participate in organizational changes with an open mind.”

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