Confirmation of Delays and Losses in Seized Items Registration
Amid an incident involving embezzlement and theft of seized items previously held by the police, the National Police Agency announced on the 7th that it has conducted a comprehensive survey of police stations nationwide and prepared improvement measures.
On the 7th, a police official explained, "We plan to establish integrated evidence management guidelines as a directive by next month and set up the system by the first half of next year." Earlier, Sergeant A of the Yongsan Police Station in Seoul was caught embezzling seized items worth several hundred million won, including cash confiscated from a voice phishing organization, and Sergeant B of the Gangnam Police Station was found to have repeatedly diverted seized cash worth about 300 million won obtained from illegal funds.
The National Police Agency conducted a comprehensive survey on the status of integrated evidence management at police stations nationwide from the 18th to the 25th of last month. This inspection was carried out through cross-checks between police stations rather than self-inspections. Particular focus was placed on the management status of important valuables such as cash and precious metals. Overall, the management of seized cash was generally good, but numerous cases of delayed registration of seized items in the Criminal Justice Information System (KICS) were identified. In some stations, five inadequate cases were detected, including ▲loss of seized items ▲violation of seized item management procedures ▲errors in the seized item list. The National Police Agency plans to issue 'warnings' to those who repeatedly delayed the registration of seized items and conduct internal investigations into management deficiencies such as loss of seized items and errors in the seized item list.
Currently, under the police integrated evidence management guidelines, the process goes through 'registration of seized items → storage and release → disposal stages,' but deficiencies in management and supervision were found. Accordingly, the system will be improved so that when investigators fill out related forms such as seizure lists and delivery documents, the seized items are automatically registered. Seized items that have been in release status for a long time will be monitored and managed through warning notification functions in the integrated evidence management system (SCAS), and plans are underway to store seized cash from high-value and multiple-victim cases in dedicated accounts. Cash and valuables will not be handled solely by the integrated evidence manager or the case handler at any stage.
Security of facilities and equipment in the integrated evidence storage room will be strengthened. Important valuables and other seized items will be replaced with transparent vinyl or plastic boxes for visual identification, and tamper-evident sealing stickers that leave traces if removed will be attached to enhance security during sealing. To strengthen access control to the current integrated evidence storage room, fingerprint recognition access control systems will be introduced. Motion-detecting CCTV will be installed inside the integrated evidence storage room to monitor entry and exit.
While strengthening integrated evidence management training and solidifying the inspection system, strict measures such as investigation requests will be taken when misconduct is detected. A National Police Agency official stated, "After supplementing measures including listening to field opinions, we plan to implement integrated evidence management improvement measures nationwide soon. We also intend to establish the current internal guideline form of integrated evidence management guidelines as a directive to enhance normative power," adding, "We will strengthen management and supervision to prevent any cases of poor integrated evidence management."
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