Lax Police Discipline Threatens Citizen Safety

Slack discipline among police officers has recently given rise to incidents.

Despite the police’s pledge to “reform their mindset” after the recent attempted abduction case of a schoolgirl in Goyang, Ilsan, laxity and complacency are still found among police officers in the frontlines of investigation.

On Friday, the Geumgok district police station in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, failed to catch a forgery suspect by arriving at the scene late even when it received a report saying, “An African-American man seemingly in his 30s used a counterfeit 100,000 won check,” much earlier.

A baker located 600 meters away from the police station made the call at around 9:32 p.m. on the day to report the suspected crime. However, it was after 10 p.m. that the police arrived at the scene.

On March 18, police officers at the Apgujeong district police station in Gangnam, Seoul, let a 31-year-old man who was suspected to have taken a drug escape in front of the station building while they were escorting him from a hotel in Nonhyeon-dong.

The man asked for a cigarette in front of the station and fled while police officers fumbled for a cigarette.

After losing the suspect, they even manipulated their report to their superior and wrote, “The suspect was dismissed with a caution due to his denial of charges and lack of evidence.”

On February 28, a police lieutenant identified by his surname Lee in Seoul’s Seobu Police Station completely omitted the criminal record of a Eunpyeong district candidate for the April 9 General Election from his police reference.

The candidate submitted the “clean” reference to the National Election Commission without mentioning the fact that he had been charged with four cases including fraud and bribery. The election watchdog learnt such a fact on April 1 and is currently investigating the policeman for forgery of an official document.

Meanwhile, a 22-year-old auxiliary policeman identified by his surname Lim got on a bus in front of Mokdong Plaza in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, at around 6:50 a.m. on Saturday, and threatened the bus driver to drive into the main entrance of KBS in Yeouido after all the passengers had got off. He was later arrested by the police.

Lim stated, “I had been isolated within the unit after reporting a senior’s violent treatment of unit members. I wanted to expose his name on TV because he’s been tormenting me.”

Regarding the incident, Kim Seok-gi of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said on Sunday, “The incident is regrettable and should never happen again. As part of the effort to look back at ourselves, we are conducting an investigation to find the root cause of such behaviors.”