Police hit back at prosecution

By Na Jeong-ju

The police lashed out at the prosecution for attempting to weaken its investigation rights, Thursday, warning that it will deal sternly with any abuse of power by prosecutors to control police officers.

The harsh reaction came after the prosecution and the Justice Ministry submitted a joint proposal to the government to reduce the scope of police investigations and strengthen prosecutors’ supervision of them.

A police spokesman said it has also drawn up its own proposal and will submit it soon to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Under the proposal, police called for revision of rules to have the police and the prosecution share investigation rights and ensure independent probes by police.

“The proposal included measures to reduce the prosecution’s excessive intervention in police probes and prevent abuses of prosecutors’ power,” said a National Police Agency (NPA) spokesman.

“One of them is to make it compulsory for prosecutors to give written instructions to officers when they work together. That’s to prevent their mistreatment of police officers.”

The dispute over investigation rights came as the PMO is stepping up efforts to revise a presidential decree on criminal investigations and lawsuits. At present it is gathering opinions from related agencies and experts on how to readjust the roles of the prosecution and the police.

In its proposal, the prosecution demanded the government reduce the scope of independent probes by police.

Currently, police can open and proceed with investigations without instructions from prosecutors on limited cases. Conversely the prosecution believe only intelligence-gathering activities should be allowed to police if they are not overseen by prosecutors.

The conflict between the two sides is expected to escalate further. The PMO said it will seek a compromise between the two sides to complete the revision as early as possible.

NPA chief Cho Hyun-oh has repeatedly called for unity of all police officers to tide over “challenges” and ensure the rule of law. During a meeting with reporters this week, he said the status of the NPA chief should be elevated to a minister level.

“Currently, being an NPA chief is a vice-minister-level position. It is discouraging to many officers,” said the outspoken police chief.