20 riot policemen punished for abusing junior officers

By Kim Rahn

Arrest warrants were sought for four conscripted riot policemen Thursday for beating and harassing younger officers at a riot police squad of the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency.

Eleven others were indicted without physical detention for abusing the cadets, while five high-profile officials of the squad were booked for negligence of duty.

The move comes after six draftees, unable to endure the harassment, deserted the barracks en masse last Sunday.

According to the National Police Agency (NPA), the senior officers beat the six over 10 occasions for various reasons, such as not memorizing the rules. They also extorted money and credit cards from them to buy snacks.

The draftees reported the abuse to a commander via phone when being mobilized for quarantine operation against foot-and-mouth disease. But the commander didn’t take any action, so the officers, afraid of retaliation in case their report was revealed, deserted the barracks, the NPA said.

Despite being aware of the abuse, the commander and other high-ranking officials did not punish the offenders or send them to other squads. They didn’t even report the case to the provincial police agency.

The NPA will disband the squad and send one third of the riot officers at the local police agency to other provincial agencies. In line with the incident, the NPA prompted 2,300 junior riot police officers in five provincial agencies report any abuse by their seniors, and 191 of them did so — 69 reported beatings and 122, other forms of physical and verbal abuse.

The abuse included a senior officer slapping a cadet on the cheek for snoring; forcing a draftee to keep eating even though he was already full; banning watching television or laughing; and sexual harassment.