By Lee Hyo-sik
Nearly 4,000 former and incumbent police officers and their family members filed a petition with the National Assembly Monday to protest a recent compromise between the National Police Agency (NPA) and the prosecution on the rights to open criminal investigations.
The petition, delivered to members of the parliamentary Legislation and Judiciary Committee, was drawn up based on discussions during a workshop last week attended by police officers across the country.
“The revision of the Criminal Procedure Code goes against the Constitution and includes clauses deemed to be anti-human rights and anti-democratic. It also has serious procedural flaws. We demand the National Assembly take up these issues,” the petition said.
It also said the revised code will further strengthen prosecutorial supervision over police, stressing many clauses should be changed to give police greater authority over criminal investigations.
A total of 3,899 police officers, professors and students of a police academy and family members signed the petition.
On June 20, Prosecutor General Kim Joon-gyu and NPA Commissioner General Cho Hyun-oh reached a consensus over the sensitive issue.
According to the agreement, police will have partial rights to open criminal investigations into suspects without supervision by prosecutors when there is de facto evidence. Currently, only the prosecution has the mandate to open, supervise and complete probes and then to indict suspects.
The new rule also has articles reinforcing the prosecution’s supervisory rights, stating that police should follow prosecutors’ orders in all investigations.
However, police officers have been protesting the agreement, claiming it virtually gives the prosecution more supervisory rights. They even demand Commissioner General Cho step down to take responsibility.
Earlier in the day, a police lieutenant, identified as Seo, staged a one-man rally in front of the NPA building in central Seoul, insisting the agreement should be revised.
“The investigation rights issue should be dealt with at the Assembly, not through a compromise between the prosecution and police. The agreement is invalid,” he said.
A signature-gathering campaign aimed to draw support from over 10,000 police officers has been gaining moment on the NPA intranet, with more than 1,000 expressing support for the drive as of Monday.