Jeju Police Agency Implements Policy Prohibiting Incident Inquiries Among Staff

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters (Jeju) Reporter Hwang Jeongpil] Jeju Police Agency announced on the 5th that since last year, as part of the ‘Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Measures for Police,’ it has been implementing a system prohibiting inquiries about investigation cases between employees.

The system prohibiting inquiries between employees prevents current and former police officers from making any inquiries about ongoing investigation cases to the investigators in charge, colleagues in the department, or department heads, ensuring that case handling is conducted more fairly and transparently.

However, police officers themselves may make minimal necessary inquiries if they are direct parties to the case or if it is required for official duties such as investigative cooperation.

If a complainant is curious about the progress of their case, they must inquire directly with the investigator in charge or the responsible department. If there are complaints or grievances against the investigator, the complainant can use the investigator avoidance system to file a recusal request with the police station’s inquiry department.

If a complainant asks a police officer who knows about their case for progress updates, the police officer who receives the inquiry guides the complainant to ‘inquire directly with the investigator in charge of the case.’

Jeju Police Agency plans to apply the ‘One Strike Out’ anti-corruption policy to employees who violate this guideline, restricting their assignment to investigation and enforcement departments and reviewing the case progress until clearance.

Investigators who receive case inquiries from current or former police officers must immediately report through the Criminal Justice Information System (KICS) ‘Request Inquiry Office’ and notify the inquiry department.

If the investigator fails to report after receiving inquiries from current or former police officers for non-official purposes, they will be strictly disciplined as if they were the inquirer.

The inquiry department will investigate the facts regarding the circumstances of the inquiry immediately upon receiving the report, impose disciplinary action, and if confirmed as a specific case request, will file a job-related complaint and impose severe disciplinary measures.

A Jeju Police Agency official stated, “Internal inquiries between employees undermine the fairness of case handling regardless of intention or purpose,” and added, “We hope complainants also make inquiries directly to the investigator in charge of the case.”