"Unable to Sleep Due to Malicious Complaints"… 20 Police Officers Take Their Lives Each Year

113 Lives Lost in the Past 5 Years
12 Deaths Until June This Year, Increasing Annually
Workload Burden Due to Staff Shortages and Malicious Complaints

Recently, as frontline police officers have been taking their own lives one after another, the performance-centered evaluation system and workload within the police organization have come under scrutiny. Experts point out that while the adjustment of investigative authority has increased the workload per individual, the number of field personnel has further decreased, exacerbating the difficulties faced by frontline officers, and they emphasize that a comprehensive system overhaul is necessary.

According to the National Police Agency, a total of 113 police officers have taken their own lives over the past five years from 2019 to last year. This averages to about 22.6 deaths per year. Looking at the numbers by year, there were 20 in 2019, 24 in 2020, 24 in 2021, 21 in 2022, and 24 in 2023, showing a steady increase each year. The number of deaths recorded up to June this year also reached 12.

Amid this, the deaths of three young police officers within the past two weeks have sparked voices pointing out problems within the police organization. On the 18th, a sergeant in his 30s working in the investigation department of the Gwanak Police Station in Seoul took his own life, citing work burden. On the 26th, a detective in his 40s working at the Dongjak Police Station in Seoul lost consciousness and collapsed in his office, was taken to the hospital, but passed away. In the same month, a sergeant in his 20s from the security department of Yesan Police Station in Chungnam took his own life, and a detective in his 40s at Hyehwa Police Station in Seoul, after complaining of work stress, jumped into the Han River but was rescued.

Police officers who lost colleagues all at once are responding with feelings that it does not feel like a distant matter. They say that those who were stressed due to severe manpower shortages after the adjustment of investigative authority, the declining external status of the police, performance pressure, and malicious complaints could no longer endure and made such decisions. In particular, they agree that the field manpower shortage worsened due to the police organizational restructuring and investigative authority adjustment implemented earlier this year. In fact, frontline officers who took their own lives this month were all known to have complained about excessive workload.

Sergeant Kim (32), working at a police station in Seoul, said, "The workload increased due to the adjustment of investigative authority, but with the launch of the Mobile Patrol Unit and Criminal Mobile Unit earlier this year, a large number of personnel were transferred there, leaving no one to work here. If we barely close one case over three months, several more cases come in during that time. Yet, personnel are assigned only to places like the Criminal Mobile Unit, which looks good externally, rather than the investigation department. No matter how much work I do, I can never shake the feeling of being overwhelmed."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Fatigue from additional tasks such as malicious complaints remains as well. Many complainants request to avoid certain investigators or file malicious complaints simply because their desired referral was not made, yet these are still reflected in individual evaluations due to assessments like the Public Safety Customer Satisfaction Survey. The Public Safety Customer Satisfaction Survey is a study that evaluates the procedures, processes, response attitudes, and service quality of police work based on complainants who have interacted with the police.

Sergeant Kim said, "There are many complainants who request to avoid investigators just because their case was not referred, and some even file malicious complaints. Among the police officers I know, there was one who could not sleep well due to malicious complaints and even had to take antidepressants."

Experts advise that the overall system of the police organization, including personnel redistribution and morale boosting, needs to be improved. Professor Lee Woong-hyuk of Konkuk University’s Department of Police Science explained, "It is difficult to pinpoint a single cause for the recent deaths of frontline police officers; it should be seen as very complex. First, the adjustment of investigative authority and organizational restructuring increased the workload per individual, while at the same time, the external status of police officers declined, lowering overall organizational morale. From the perspective of young officers, the work increased, but the corresponding achievements or rewards were minimal, making it hard to find hope."

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