“When we ask victims about the reason for their recovery, the most common response we hear is that the sincere attitude of the police officers who received the report and the police officers in charge of the investigation and investigation touched their hearts during the most difficult times.”
Jeong Myeong-shin, head of the Seoul Sunflower Center, said this at the first public hearing held at the Seodaemun-gu Police Agency in Seoul on the 17th by the 'Public Participation and Field Accompaniment Police Reform Group', which is in charge of reforming the police organization and overall work.
Director Jeong said, “The fairness of the investigation and the expansion of individual investigators’ capabilities into the system are the most important parts of victim recovery,” and emphasized that not only the system and manual, but also the attitude of individual police officers is the starting point for victim recovery.
In particular, in cases where the perpetrator or the perpetrator's family member is a police officer, the victim fears that the details of the report may become known to the police or the incident may be covered up, and requested that cases involving police officers be handled more seriously.
Acting Police Commissioner Kim Jong-cheol said, “The system is important, but in the end, the attitude of the person in charge is key,” and promised, “I will continue to provide education so that necessary procedures, such as notification, can be taken care of, even as a courtesy to the victims.”
At the listening session on this day, bitter voices from the field surrounding the police investigation continued, including not only the attitude toward victims, but also concerns about collusion among all police officers, lack of expertise among investigators, regional competency gaps, and response to crimes related to children and adolescents.
The listening session was attended by 27 people from 11 organizations, including the Korea Victims Support Association, the National Crime Victims Support Association, the National Citizens' Association for the Search for Missing Children, the Association for Finding Missing Children, the Korea Federation for the Disabled, the National Council of Domestic Violence Counseling Centers, the Teenage Women's Human Rights Center, the Seoul Sunflower Center, the School Victims' Family Council, the Green Tree Foundation, and the Women's Lawyers Association.
Jeon Ji-hye, executive director of the Korean Women Lawyers Association, said, “I hope to instill in the public confidence that the police do not have any common sense at all and judge only evidence and legal principles,” and asked, “Please show clear trust that the courtesy and collusion with all officials has been broken down.”
He continued, "At the investigative stage, there are many times when you feel that you lack basic legal knowledge such as criminal law or criminal procedure law," and emphasized, "I hope that you will at least have the legal knowledge and ability to independently review the legal principles of the case you are in charge of."
Differences in investigative conditions and capabilities depending on region also came to the fore.
An official from the National Domestic Violence Counseling Center said, "In cases of sexual violence against children and adolescents in rural cities and counties, it sometimes takes a year, or even more than three years, for the perpetrator to be punished," and pointed out that a plan to strengthen regional capabilities should be prepared in consideration of the differences in investigation conditions between the metropolitan area and rural areas.
Acting Director Kim said, "We will make ceaseless efforts, from improving the system to strengthening the capabilities of each investigator, to ensure that no matter which investigator in any region is in charge, at least we can gain confidence that the investigation will be carried out responsibly and fairly."
The police said that it was difficult to secure expertise as the average working period of abuse prevention officers (APOs) was only about two years, and decided to expand incentives and professional training to encourage long-term service.
It was also pointed out that children and adolescents who are victims of prostitution are sent as juvenile offenders, or that 'voluntary prostitution' and 'forced prostitution' are still differentiated in the field.
Cho Jin-kyung, CEO of the Teenage Women's Human Rights Center, called for improvement, saying that even though all children and adolescents involved in prostitution have been defined as victims through the revision of the law, past investigative practices and perceptions remain.
Acting Director Kim said, “I agree to a large extent,” and said he would review whether there is a reasonable alternative to sending juvenile offenders and reexamine the actual situation on the ground.
In relational crimes such as domestic violence, there have been calls to change the system to separate perpetrators instead of victims leaving their homes and going to shelters.
The police agreed with the need and said that the current temporary measures have limitations and that the attachment of electronic devices is only introduced for stalking crimes, and that they would consult with relevant agencies to revise related laws in the direction of separating perpetrators.
Regarding the issue of notifying the victim of the progress of the investigation into the perpetrator, it was decided to consider mandatory notification, saying that although there was a basis for it in the stalking case manual, it was confirmed that there was no relevant content in the domestic violence and child abuse case manual.
Regarding the burden on students and guardians who are victims of school violence to repeatedly state the same details of damage to the police, school, and office of education, the police acknowledged that this was "something that needs to be fixed" and decided to prepare improvement measures.
This listening session is the first public opinion collection process of the '100 Days of Police Reform with the People' promoted by the Police Reform Group, which was launched on the 9th with 15 members.
However, as the attendees on this day consisted mainly of people from related support groups rather than victims, there were limitations to the opportunity to directly hear the voices of those involved.
The National Police Agency plans to materialize the opinions raised on this day into reform tasks and pursue actionable issues first.
A traveling listening session and online opinion collection will be held at each provincial and provincial police office until November.
In mid-December, the '100 Day Report on Police Reform with the People' will be held to reveal the results reflecting suggestions from the public and the field, the implementation status of major reform tasks, and future plans.
