"Regression of dictatorship" vs "necessary containment"... Police 'whispered' at the movement of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security

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As there is a prospect that the police system improvement plan promoted by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security will include the revival of the police department, internal opposition from the police is growing.

In an unusual way, the Commissioner of the National Police Agency convened an emergency executive meeting yesterday (17th).

<Reporter>

With regard to the recent move by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, front-line police officers are concerned that things will go back to the same way as in the days of authoritarian regimes in the past.

The National Police Agency, which was separated from the Ministry of the Interior, was launched in 1991 as social demands to ensure the independence and neutrality of the police grew due to the torture and death of Park Jong-cheol.

However, if the Ministry of Public Administration and Security revives the police department and enacts rules of command for the National Police Agency, and has jurisdiction over administrative affairs such as personnel and budget, it is possible to return to the past police officers dominated by power.

[Lee Woong-hyuk/Professor of Police Department, Konkuk University: It is to establish a police department to actively direct and supervise public security affairs.

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For this reason, the police are protesting that most of the content discussed by the Police System Improvement Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security is inappropriate.

However, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security explained the background to the advisory committee's activities, saying that as the nature and scope of police investigation power has changed due to the passage of the so-called Inspection and Restraint Act, it is necessary to improve the system for the democratic management and operation of the police.

Some say that it is necessary to have a police department in the Ministry of Public Administration and Security just like the Prosecution Bureau of the Ministry of Justice.

[Jang Young-soo/Professor, Korea University Law School: In the past, many police authorities were controlled through the prosecution's investigative powers, but that is now gone.

Don't you need some other control...

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Commissioner Chang-ryong Kim of the National Police Agency convened all executives at the National Police Agency's director level and above and held an emergency meeting to prepare for the advisory committee's recommendations to be announced next week.

It has also canceled a European tour.

As the government's purpose is to improve the system of public power that is closely related to people's lives, it seems that sufficient discussion with civil society and academia should be held when a final recommendation is made.