By Kim Hyun-bin
The National Police Agency (NPA) said, Monday, it plans to introduce a tougher qualification system for leading investigative positions in a move to improve criminal investigations.
Under the new system that will be put in force in the second half of the year, police officers must have six years of investigative experience in the past decade or three years of experience in both investigation and detective roles before getting promoted to the chief posts.
According to the NPA, 464 police officers will be subject to the new requirements.
Previously, there has been no requirement for the section chief grade posts, allowing officers with no prior experience in investigation to hold the seat.
The move comes amid President Moon Jae-in administration's efforts to expand the role of the police in criminal investigation. The government aims to give police the authority to close initial investigations in all cases independently of the prosecution, while requiring the prosecution to focus on its primary role of prosecuting cases.
The NPA said current leading police officers meet the new requirements.
“Investigative experience of current section chiefs averages nearly nine years in the past 10 years. We are trying to prevent officers that have limited experience in investigation from taking charge of criminal cases,” an NPA official said. “This is part of the NPA's efforts to strengthen police investigative powers.”
The NPA has also set a higher bar for promotion of team leaders.
Previously, to become a team leader in an investigative position including detective, police, intelligence and cyber investigation department roles, one needed to have a minimum of five years' experience in investigation or two years background in the selected field.
On top of that, the NPA will require prospects to acquire specialty investigative licenses and complete team leader education courses to become eligible for the position from now on.
There are 88 different courses within the four major fields including scientific investigation, investigation technique and digital evidence analysis.
All courses will be available at the Korea Police Investigation Academy and it will be mandatory to complete at least one course every seven years.
“We want investigative leaders to have both experience and the ability to thoroughly review the investigation to reduce errors and enhance credibility in the investigation results,” said an official from the NPA.
The NPA plans to revise the investigative police personnel regulations to input the new changes.