[Exclusive] Police Blind Vote on 'Geomsu Wanbak'... Over 80% "Absolutely Opposed"

Regarding the Complete Prosecution Reform, Police Internal "Police Ignore Because They Can't Investigate the Democratic Party"
Concerns Over Increased Workload "Worry About Complete Prosecution Reform Without Personnel Adjustment... Weekend Work Default?"

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] It has been confirmed that frontline police officers also oppose the 'Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights (Geomsu Wanbak)' bill, which the Democratic Party of Korea has agreed upon as party policy to be passed within this month after a party meeting.

Recently, a survey titled 'Geomsu Wanbak' was posted on the National Police Agency board of Blind, an anonymous community for office workers. As of 10 a.m. on the 13th, a total of 341 people voted, with 278 (81.5%) opposing Geomsu Wanbak and 63 (18.5%) supporting it. Blind requires company email verification to post, and the company name is displayed next to the nickname.

On the Blind National Police Agency board, criticism is growing that Geomsu Wanbak is a measure by the Democratic Party that disregards the investigative capabilities of the police.

Posts include comments such as, "Isn't Geomsu Wanbak completely ignoring the police?", "It seems like they think they only need to strip the prosecution's authority since the police can't investigate our Democratic Party anyway," and "The term 'mob rule' resonates because people who will never be involved with the prosecution in their lives are getting caught up in political power games, calling it a prosecutorial republic Geomsu Wanbak."

There are also many reactions expressing concern that if the prosecution's investigative rights disappear, the police workload will increase, and the burden will fall entirely on the police. Posts like "All investigative departments are overwhelmed with cases," "I'm worried if Geomsu Wanbak will be completed without personnel adjustments," and "Is overtime and weekend work the default now?" were posted.

There were also critical voices directed at the police leadership, such as "Looks like the leadership is nervous, trying hard to shield this. Can they really push this through without internal support?"

The opinions of police officers in charge of investigations on the front lines were not much different from the posts on the Blind board. Sergeant A, working at a provincial police agency, said, "Before the adjustment of investigative rights, prosecutors often supplemented investigations themselves and handed over cases, so the frontline workload was lighter. (After the adjustment) prosecutors can no longer direct investigations and request supplementary investigations, but all parts have to go through our (police) hands, so case processing inevitably gets delayed. If Geomsu Wanbak passes, all investigations will be concentrated on the police, and we won't be able to handle it."

If the Democratic Party's Geomsu Wanbak bill abolishes all first-instance investigative functions of the prosecution and assigns the police to take over the investigation of six major crimes (corruption, economy, public officials, elections, major disasters, defense projects) that were previously left to the prosecution, it is expected that the police's aversion to investigative departments will worsen. Currently, the police are seriously struggling with manpower shortages as they avoid investigative departments and departments handling complaints and accusations.

In fact, some bills related to Geomsu Wanbak include provisions granting investigative authority to 'judicial police assistants' such as patrol officers, corporals, and sergeants, changing the criminal justice system structure so that the police oversee national investigations, which is expected to significantly expand police authority.

According to the 'Partial Amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act' proposed by Democratic Party lawmaker Hwang Unha, a former police officer, in August last year, the clause stating "When a prosecutor believes there is suspicion of a crime, they investigate the suspect, facts, and evidence" (Article 196) was abolished and replaced with "Among police officers, those ranked sergeant or above are judicial police officers, and those ranked corporal or below are judicial police assistants, who investigate the suspect, facts, and evidence when there is suspicion of a crime." Furthermore, the clause requiring judicial police assistants to "assist investigations" (Article 197, Paragraph 2) was entirely deleted.

Lawmaker Kim Yong-min also said in a media interview the day before, "Regarding the organization of new investigative bodies such as the Serious Crime Investigation Agency, we plan to create it in consultation with the new ruling party," adding, "For now, you can consider that the prosecution's investigative rights will be directly transferred to the police."