The 'National Police Workplace Council' (Gyeongchaljikhoe), a police labor union equivalent, expressed its welcome on the 23rd after the Constitutional Court ruled in the authority dispute trial regarding the 'Prosecutor's Investigation Rights Abolition Act' (Geomsuwanbak) that "the prosecutor's investigative authority is not a constitutional right."
Min Gwan-gi, chairman of the Police Workplace Council, said in a statement that "(With this decision) it has become clear that the prosecutor's right to request warrants can be created by law, not by the Constitution," adding, "I am glad that prosecutors can no longer claim to be constitutional institutions."
The Constitutional Court ruled that the prosecutor's investigative authority is limited to a "legal authority" distributed to each agency at the executive branch level through legislation by the National Assembly.
Within the police, there is an atmosphere of expectation that this decision will serve as a decisive basis for securing independent investigative authority in the future.
Chairman Min emphasized, "We will do our best to secure the independent investigative authority of investigative police officers, such as allowing the police to directly request search and seizure warrants in the future."
Although the National Police Agency did not release an official statement on the Constitutional Court's decision that day, it is known that Commissioner Yoon Hee-geun has heard about the significance of this decision through officials inside and outside the police.
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