Lawmakers sharply criticized police on Jeju during a parliamentary audit over a string of high-profile failures, including a missing-person case that was falsely closed, the killing of a woman who had reported stalking and sexual assault, and the death of a 4-year-old girl. Kim Byung-chan, commissioner of the Jeju Police Agency, bowed in apology and said he would "carry out reform with a painful resolve to restore basic standards and public trust, as measured by the public's expectations."
At the audit of the Jeju Police Agency conducted by the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee at police headquarters on Jeju on the 22nd, Kim said: "I am sorry that we failed to meet public expectations in the falsely closed missing-person case, the stalking murder case and the death of the 4-year-old girl." He added that the agency would "completely overhaul its missing-person response system to restore trust in police investigations, while also focusing on the early settling-in of the new criminal justice framework and on human rights protection."
He said the agency had revamped its handling of missing-person reports across the board, following the case in which a police sergeant surnamed Boo on Jeju falsely closed missing-person cases — an episode that became the trigger for broader public distrust of the police.
Asked by Rep. Park Sang-woong of the People Power Party what would be different if a missing-person report came in now, Kim said: "Previously, a single officer worked the overnight shift and had to take the report, run checks, review closed-circuit television footage, coordinate with other units and enter the data into the system alone." He added, "One person worked 12 hours and was overloaded, so it was physically impossible to handle multiple cases under that system."
"After taking office as Jeju commissioner, I reinforced the system by putting about one-eighth of the entire missing-person team on a four-shift rotation and ensuring that two officers are on duty at all times during overnight hours," he said. "Because even two officers could falsely close a case, we added a step requiring that closures at night go through the direction of the on-duty criminal investigation team leader."
On how missing-person cases had been concentrated on a single officer — Boo handled 298 cases alone — Kim said: "That was because officers previously handled cases assigned to them during their own duty shifts." He added: "There was also the harmful practice of leaving case closures and data entry to new recruits. We have now changed the system so that senior officers close cases."
Kim also said the agency would review all cases involving relationship-based crimes, which have come under scrutiny recently, and focus on separating perpetrators from victims so that substantive victim protection measures are carried out. He added that the agency plans to work with the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province government to build a safety net by densely expanding security cameras along stretches with weak public safety coverage, such as the Jeju Olle Trail.