National Police Agency Seeking Full-Scale Independence of Investigative Powers

The National Police Agency (NPA) decided to submit its proposal in which the agency seeks to fully gain independent investigative powers, equivalent of the powers that the prosecution is enjoying.

In addition, the police agency is expected to submit a measure to build the legal foundation of neutralization of the police to prevent political influences from being placed on investigations and personnel management of the police.

A senior official in the NPA made it clear, “It is necessary for the prosecution and the police to redefine the current investigative relationships between the two leading law enforcement agencies and maintain the principle of “checks and balance,” and to that end, the National Police Agency decided to seek ways to gain full-scale independent investigative rights which will allow the police to carry out investigations independently from the prosecution, instead of rendering the police “limited investigative power” according to the severity of crimes.”

He also added, “It is inevitable to annul or revise various regulations through which the prosecution restricts the police. We are fully prepared to counter logics the prosecution may employ to oppose the NPA`s plan to seek equal investigative power to that of the prosecution.”

The National Police Agency is planning to present such proposals at a briefing to the Presidential Transition Committee on Jan.15.

The NPA is also planning to propose that the 195 provision of the Code of the Criminal Suit, which states the subject of investigative rights is the prosecution, be revised to stipulate the equal investigative rights by law.

Not only that, it decided to request the equal status for the police and the prosecution when it comes to investigations by amending the current provision which says that the prosecution is in charge of the police during investigations to a new one which may say the prosecution and the police should seek complementary roles during investigations.

However, the NPA decided not to seek rights to request warrants, close investigations, and issue independent indictments, like the case in the Japanese police.

The NPA has been working on strategies for almost one year to improve the police system and operation, including independent investigative power by forming a improvement strategy team led by Jang Hee-gon, a high-ranking police officer.

In case of guarantying the equal status for the police, duties of the police to deal with paper work stemming from a concerned investigation and to obey the prosecution are likely to be removed.

It has been reported that in preparation for a possible independence of investigative power, the NPS has already drawn up concrete action plans to strengthen specialization of investigations by dividing the arms of the police into the judicial and the administrative police and finalized a plan to grant a leading investigator independent status.

With respect to the NPA`s move, a prosecutor at the Seoul District Prosecutor’s Office said, “Seeking to gain more police independence from the prosecution goes against the rule of law. The main purpose of establishing the prosecution system, which advanced countries in terms of the legal system, such as Germany and France, has also established, is to exercise investigation power in a right manner by granting the legal authorities rights to lead and oversee investigations.”

A prosecutor at the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office also said, “There is no country that gives the police independent investigative powers equal to the prosecution. In case of independent investigative powers to the police, a lot of side effects, including human rights abuses, will be found.

Jin-Goo Lee Sang-Rok Lee sys1201@donga.com myzodan@donga.com