[Opinion] The Path Forward for the Jeju-style Autonomous Police System

Gogi Cheol, Chief of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Police Agency

With the enforcement of the revised "Police Act" on January 1, 2021, a decentralized model (so-called unified model) distributing command and supervision authority over autonomous police affairs (such as community safety, traffic, and women and youth) without establishing separate autonomous police agencies or autonomous police stations was introduced nationwide.

The newly established autonomous police commission, a collegial administrative body, exercises command and supervision over the autonomous police affairs of the Jeju Police Agency and is gradually becoming the center of public safety.

Jeju is the nation's top tourist destination, attracting over 10 million visitors annually, and ranks first nationwide in public safety demand per 100,000 population (including the five major crimes, traffic accidents, and 112 emergency calls).

Due to these regional characteristics, the regional safety index, which evaluates public safety performance in the community safety sector, ranks lowest among metropolitan local governments nationwide. The police personnel and equipment in Jeju are inevitably insufficient compared to the demand for public safety, making efforts to secure residents' safety in crime prevention and traffic safety more urgent than in other cities and provinces.

Meanwhile, during discussions on introducing the nationwide unified autonomous police system, it was initially proposed to abolish the Jeju Autonomous Police Unit under the Jeju Provincial Government, which has been operating since 2006. However, after intense deliberations in the National Assembly, it was finally decided to retain the Autonomous Police Unit even with the introduction of the unified model and the establishment of the Autonomous Police Commission.

Accordingly, under the command and supervision of the Autonomous Police Commission, both the Jeju Police Agency’s autonomous police departments (community safety, traffic, women and youth) and the Jeju Autonomous Police Unit perform the same autonomous police affairs, initiating what is called the "dual autonomous police system" in Jeju.

This unprecedented "dual autonomous police system" in Jeju may cause confusion and inefficient work processing due to overlapping duties, posing a significant obstacle to efforts to ensure the safety of residents and the region, with the resulting harm inevitably affecting the residents.

On the other hand, if clear division of duties and close cooperation between the Jeju Police Agency and the Autonomous Police Unit lead to healthy competition within their respective domains, Jeju’s public safety network could be greatly expanded beyond its current state.

To this end, according to the "Jeju Special Act," which stipulates clear division of duties between the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and the Jeju Police Agency (Jeju Autonomous Police Unit), it is important to revise the "Agreement on Division of Duties between Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and Jeju Police Agency" to resolve inefficiencies in public safety administration and to establish a new cooperative public safety system through close consultation and communication.

The agreement was first enacted in 2008 and revised once in 2014, but despite significant changes in the public safety system following the implementation of the autonomous police system last year, it has been operated without further revision. This gap with reality makes revision urgent.

Accordingly, since the beginning of the year, the Jeju Police Agency has prepared a revision draft of the "Agreement" including key contents such as designating the Autonomous Police Unit’s responsibility areas related to traffic (roads with traffic safety facilities such as school zones), expanding the Autonomous Police Unit’s focus areas (parks within the province under the Act on Urban Parks and Green Areas), and dividing roles in women and youth and community order fields. Full-scale consultations with the Jeju Provincial Government and the Autonomous Police Unit will soon begin.

In particular, the revision draft includes converting the Autonomous Police Unit (Happy Safety Center) adjacent to the mid-mountain area, where access to public safety services is relatively low, into a 24-hour operation system and responding to 112 emergency calls occurring in that area.

Measures to share public safety information and statistics between the Jeju Police Agency and the Autonomous Police Unit on an ongoing basis and to connect wired and wireless networks in real time are also being prepared to further strengthen the cooperative public safety system between the two agencies.

As Jeju is the only region in the country operating a "dual autonomous police system," it is true that some difficulties are inevitable in managing public safety administration.

Nevertheless, if the involved agencies put aside their interests and prioritize the safety of residents and the region to build a cooperative system, collaboration and division of labor will harmonize to provide more thorough public safety services, ultimately evolving Jeju’s public safety system into a "Jeju-type autonomous police system" at a higher level.

We ask for the active participation and interest of the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province (Jeju Autonomous Police Unit), Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Council, Jeju Autonomous Police Commission, and all residents regarding the revision of the agreement, which is the first step toward the "Jeju-type autonomous police system."