Jeju police checking officer's shift report over alleged mishandling of missing person case
A police officer accused of wrongfully closing a missing person case leaves the Jeju District Court after his arrest warrant hearing, Aug. 25. Yonhap
JEJU — The police are examining a night shift report drafted by one of its officers suspected of mishandling missing person cases on Jeju Island, the Jeju Provincial Police Agency said Friday.
The officer is suspected of having omitted key information in his shift report on an evening shift in May when he received a missing person report on a woman in her 30s, according to officials at the Jeju police agency.
Normally, missing person cases, especially those involving women, are reported to higher-ups, often all the way to the Jeju police chief, due to the possibility of the missing persons being subject to crimes, according to the police.
The police officer in question is said to have made no such report to his superiors of the missing person case he allegedly closed without confirming the victim's safety.
He was placed under formal arrest earlier this week after the victim's body was found Monday at a tree farm near her residence on the island.
He is also suspected of having deleted her data from the profile list of missing people, while inserting false information that she had died in a car accident.