[Exclusive] Heavy Workload at Gwanak Police Station... 3rd Highest Among 31 Police Stations in Seoul

Gwanak Police Investigator Dies After Complaining of Work Overload
Police Investigations Increase but No Staff Reinforcement
"More Investigation Authority Should Naturally Mean More Personnel"

Amid reports of overwork, a detective in his 30s recently took his own life, and it has been confirmed that among the 31 police stations in Seoul, Gwanak Police Station holds the third highest number of cases. Critics argue that structural issues such as a shortage of investigative personnel and the side effects of organizational restructuring have been left unaddressed, while performance pressure and intensive inspections have driven young police officers to death.

The National Police Workplace Council (Police Workplace Council) is holding an 'Emergency Press Conference Regarding Consecutive Police Officer Death Incidents' in front of the National Police Agency. [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the "Number of Cases Held by Police Stations" submitted by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency to Mo Gyeongjong, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, as of June, Gangnam Police Station had 6,693 cases, Songpa Police Station 5,852 cases, Gwanak Police Station 4,879 cases, Seocho Police Station 4,871 cases, Mapo Police Station 4,520 cases, Gangseo Police Station 4,103 cases, Yeongdeungpo Police Station 3,329 cases, Guro Police Station 3,083 cases, Suseo Police Station 3,050 cases, and Yongsan Police Station 3,013 cases, in that order. These figures represent the total number of cases across all investigative departments, including investigation, criminal, women and youth, and traffic divisions.

Notably, 32.2% of the total 83,261 cases were concentrated in five police stations. Frontline investigators are burdened with workloads, being assigned as many as 40 to 50 cases or as few as 20 to 30 cases.

The main causes include the transfer of investigative authority to the police for all cases except six major crimes?corruption, economic crimes, public officials, elections, defense industry, and large-scale disasters?following the 2021 adjustment of investigative rights between the prosecution and police, and the revision of investigative guidelines last November, which prohibited the rejection of complaints and accusations. While the number of investigative cases increased, there was no reinforcement of field personnel.

Looking at the suicide statistics of police officers under the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency over the past five years, there were 5 cases in 2019, 3 in 2020, 8 in 2021, 6 in 2022, 5 in 2023, and 4 from January to June 2024. Previously, Detective A in his 30s, who worked in the investigative department of Gwanak Police Station in Seoul, took his own life on the 19th of last month. Detective A sent messages to colleagues such as "I have 73 cases. At this rate, I will die," "I feel like I'm going to die. I see no way out," and "Cases just keep piling up."

Before his death, Detective A had also applied for a department transfer due to the burden of work. Officer B in his 20s, belonging to the Security Division of Yesan Police Station in Chungnam, committed suicide on the 22nd of last month, and Sergeant C in his 40s, who was in charge of investigative work at Hyehwa Police Station in Seoul, jumped into the Han River on the 26th of last month but was rescued. Both reportedly expressed stress related to their work.

Concerns have also been raised about the Police Agency's pre-transfer self-case responsibility system and intensive inspections. Currently, in the personnel evaluation system for heads of investigative divisions and teams, there are penalties for inadequate management of long-term cases. The National Police Workplace Council (Police Union) pointed out, "Measures such as excluding division and team heads from personnel evaluations and disqualifying the bottom 10% of team leaders handling long-term cases have placed excessive pressure on investigators, causing stress," adding, "The weekly disclosure of evaluation results every Friday and the sending of encouragement texts have increased the workload burden."

In fact, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency notified police stations with many long-term cases lasting over a year for on-site inspections from the 16th to the 26th of last month, and Detective A expressed pressure, saying, "I hope the on-site inspection day (22nd) does not come." A Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency official explained, "Since early this year, we have emphasized managing long-term cases, and Gwanak Police Station was one of the places where improvement was lacking," adding, "While on-site inspections may put pressure on investigators, the intention is to propose solutions."

Experts unanimously agree that a fundamental solution requires government organizational restructuring. Professor Kim Do-woo of the Department of Police Science at Gyeongnam National University advised, "The chronic problem is a shortage of personnel," and added, "Just as the prosecution has investigators, the police also need administrative and auxiliary personnel."

Professor Lee Woong-hyuk of the Department of Police Science at Konkuk University also said, "If the police have more investigative authority, naturally, the number of personnel should increase. The so-called investigative personnel from the prosecution should have come along with the cases to the police. However, the police personnel remained the same while only the cases were transferred. Overload was inevitable, and by pressuring only the field, structural problems have surfaced," adding, "Even if the police internally adjust personnel allocation, it is merely squeezing a dry towel. The morale of police officers will drop further, and the problems will become more serious."