Large Vacancies in Police Ranks of Private, Corporal, and Sergeant
"Concerns Over Whether the Organization Is Weak in Manpower"
It has been revealed that there is a noticeable shortage of personnel in the lower ranks primarily deployed for on-site security by the police.
According to data submitted by the National Police Agency to Jeong Woo-taek, a member of the People Power Party on the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, as of the end of last month, the number of personnel working under the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency was 31,623, which is 64 more than the authorized strength of 31,559.
However, among them, the ranks classified as non-officers?constables, corporals, and sergeants?were found to have significant vacancies.
There were 5,691 sergeants, which is 949 fewer than the authorized strength of 6,640, and 5,967 corporals, which is 2,018 fewer than the authorized strength of 7,985. For corporals, all provincial police agencies except Gyeonggi Bukbu, and for sergeants, all except Gyeonggi Nambu, had vacancies.
The number of constables was only 4,626, about half of the authorized strength of 9,535. The constable rank was understaffed in all 18 provincial police agencies nationwide.
Among these, regions with more than 1,000 constable vacancies, besides Seoul, included Busan (1,967), Daegu (1,253), Incheon (1,210), Gyeonggi Nambu (3,444), Gyeonggi Bukbu (1,157), and Gyeongnam (1,224), totaling seven locations.
On the other hand, senior officers such as chief superintendents and superintendents currently exceed their authorized numbers by 17 and 67 respectively. Inspectors numbered 5,059, which is 3,039 more than the authorized 2,020, and lieutenants numbered 8,456, which is 4,635 more than the authorized 3,821.
The shortage of ranks responsible for on-site security is also analyzed to be due to an increasing number of young police officers leaving the organization because of stress from public-facing duties and working conditions. Last year, 177 constables, corporals, and sergeants retired, which is 51 more than in 2018 (126).
Amid recent incidents involving weapon rampages, a person identifying themselves as an active-duty police officer named A posted anonymously on a workplace community.
A said, “Due to the ignorance of various government departments regarding all the problems and civil complaints like heavy rain and heatwaves, the police bear unlimited responsibility,” adding, “On top of that, police officers die trying to protect criminals’ human rights. The police, who have the highest suicide rate among public officials, can no longer endure this.”
On the workplace community 'Blind,' a recent post complained, “Night shifts for police are too tough,” and “When we respond to calls about fights after drinking, we get cursed at. We have no authority but are expected to take responsibility like 'Superman.'”
Assemblyman Jeong expressed concern, saying, “I worry that the police organization is one where the head is large but the limbs are weak,” and pointed out, “We need to devise a plan to drastically increase the number of field personnel who respond to crime scenes rather than police who just shuffle papers at desks.”
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