Tomorrow's Police Officer Open Recruitment Written Exam... Competition Ratio 16 to 1

Recruiting 2,907, 46,687 Applicants Gathered
Separate Exams for COVID-19 Confirmed Cases
Fairness Controversy Last Year
Exam Management Manual Established

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] The first written exam of the year, the initial hurdle to becoming a police officer, will be held this weekend.

According to the National Police Agency on the 5th, the "2021 1st Police Officer (Constable) Recruitment Written Exam" will take place on the 6th from 10:00 AM to 11:40 AM at 2,434 test centers across 84 schools in 17 cities and provinces nationwide. For this exam, 46,687 candidates are competing for 2,907 positions, resulting in a competition ratio of 16 to 1.

The police have prepared quarantine measures tailored to the COVID-19 situation. With cooperation from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, they will pre-identify confirmed cases and self-quarantined individuals among the candidates and arrange special exams at separate locations. Candidates showing symptoms before or during the exam will take the test in a designated provisional exam room at the test site. Additionally, measures such as unified entry points to the test centers, temperature checks before entry, mandatory mask-wearing during the exam, social distancing, staggered dismissal after the exam, and disinfection before and after the exam will be implemented. To this end, the police will appoint infection control officers for each test site and operate dedicated teams of about seven members. A police official stated, "We will thoroughly manage the operation of the written exam and the quarantine situation."

The constable recruitment process proceeds in the order of written exam → physical examination → physical fitness and aptitude tests → interview. The final successful candidates of the first recruitment will be announced on May 21.

Last year, the police faced controversy over fairness issues during the second half constable recruitment exam held in September. At that time, problems in exam management were identified, such as some test centers announcing errata sheets earlier than the scheduled time. The National Police Agency apologized to the candidates and implemented remedial measures, including awarding adjusted scores to ensure fairness.

In November of the same year, the police prepared a "Recruitment Exam Proctor Manual," which includes three-stage training for proctors covering cyber, pre-exam, and exam-day education, unified exam procedures through announcement broadcasts, changes to entry completion times, and time-based checklist confirmations. Since this exam is the first constable recruitment written exam conducted after the manual's implementation, managing exam fairness is expected to be a crucial task.