Frontline junior police officers have strongly protested the internal disciplinary actions related to the 'Hadong Police Substation Patrol Car Fatality Accident' that occurred in August last year, insisting that the leadership must take structural responsibility.
On June 17, the National Police Workplace Council Gyeongnam Headquarters held a press conference in front of the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency, stating, "The patrol car fatality accident at Jingyo Police Substation, Hadong, was caused by structural problems within the police organization," and raising their voices to say, "Do not shift organizational responsibility onto junior officers."
The National Police Workplace Council Gyeongnam Headquarters is holding a press conference in protest against the disciplinary action related to the patrol car fatality accident that occurred at Jingyo Police Substation, Hadong Police Station, Gyeongnam. Photo by Lee Seryeong
Previously, at around 2:00 p.m. on August 17 last year, a woman in her 40s was found dead in the back seat of a patrol car parked at the Jingyo Police Substation parking lot of Hadong Police Station, Gyeongnam.
This woman had entered the unlocked patrol car at around 2:00 a.m. the previous day. The back seat, separated from the front seats by a safety partition and lacking an interior door handle, could not be opened from inside. She was trapped there for 36 hours before passing away.
During this process, a police investigation revealed that the officers on duty had failed to follow regulations, such as locking the vehicle doors when parking the patrol car, working from their designated locations, and going on patrol at the scheduled times.
Based on the investigation results, the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency referred Officer A to the prosecution on charges of occupational negligence resulting in death for failing to lock the patrol car doors, and Officer B on charges of dereliction of duty for not properly performing situation room duties.
Disciplinary actions were also taken against 13 individuals: two were suspended from disciplinary action, two received severe disciplinary measures, seven received minor disciplinary measures, and two received warnings without formal disciplinary action.
The National Police Workplace Association Gyeongnam Headquarters is holding a solo protest against the disciplinary actions related to the patrol car fatality accident that occurred at Jingyo Police Substation, Hadong Police Station, Gyeongnam. Photo by Lee Seryung
The Gyeongnam Headquarters of the Police Workplace Council criticized this as "a forced indictment and a power-driven fabricated investigation."
The council stated, "This is administrative violence based solely on reviewing a still frame from CCTV footage, without any individual responsibility analysis," and added, "Disciplinary actions were indiscriminately imposed based only on assumptions that there was no movement or that officers might have been sleeping."
They further argued that the root cause of the accident lay in structural problems within the police, such as staff shortages and excessive workloads.
They pointed out, "Despite knowing about the manpower shortage, the leadership enforced a central substation system, restructured night shifts under the guise of support duty, failed to properly establish a police car security manual, and shifted all access control responsibility onto frontline officers," adding, "This is a failure of organizational design and the result of structural neglect by the leadership."
They also emphasized, "Work assignments, personnel reinforcement, rest management, and patrol area designations are all the comprehensive responsibility of the on-site leadership," and urged, "Withdraw the indictments against off-duty staff, declare all disciplinary actions void, and conduct audits and investigations into the leadership responsible for the underlying causes."
Min Gwan-gi, chairman of the National Police Workplace Council, said, "Of course, we are not free from responsibility for the woman's death," but added, "There is a problem with indicting so many officers and disciplining all 13 members of the substation."
Kim Moon-sik, chairman of the Hadong Police Station Workplace Council, stated, "It is unfair to severely punish and discipline junior officers who were simply following orders within the structural framework created by the leadership," and added, "The leadership should not evade responsibility and hold only the frontline officers, who respond for the public, accountable."
After the press conference, the Police Workplace Council continued their solo protest in front of the main gate of the Gyeongnam Provincial Government Office.
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