DP offers police more authority in investigations
Published: 16 Nov. 2009, 21:45
A dormant debate between the prosecution and the police over the realignment of the authority to investigate criminal cases resurfaced again yesterday when the Democratic Party and the police jump-started a campaign to grant more power to the police.
“I have drafted a bill to revise the Criminal Procedure Act and am collecting signatures from lawmakers of both ruling and opposition parties,” said Representative Kim Hee-chull of the Democratic Party. “I will submit the bill to the National Assembly for deliberation before the end of this week.”
Representative Park Jie-won, chief policy maker of the Democratic Party, said the main opposition party will back the bill and the National Police Agency said it will help revise the law governing the specifics of the criminal investigation. The police have also asked academics to research the issue.
The JoongAng Ilbo recently obtained the results of research conducted by Cho Kuk, a law professor at Seoul National University, supporting the revision. The report notes that the current law governing criminal investigations should be revised because it does not recognize the police’s investigative power even though the police investigate most crimes in Korea.
The Democrats and the police pointed out that in other developed countries it is rare for a single law enforcement authority to exercise exclusive rights to investigate, prosecute and seek warrants. In Korea, the prosecution alone has all such powers.
According to the Democrats and the police, the police handle 98.8 percent of crimes in Korea, their argument for legalizing the investigative rights of the police.
The issue of dividing investigative powers between prosecutors and police has been repeatedly debated since the Criminal Procedure Act was first established in 1954. At the time, the legislature was concerned about the excessive empowerment of the police, which had played the role of intelligence agency, and did not stipulate the police’s investigative power.
The latest debate on this issue took place in 2004 and 2005, but no conclusion was reached.
Over the past half century, the law was never amended, and the prosecution was given the investigative power under the law, and it was the sole law enforcement body with the power of indictment.
The nation’s Constitution made it clear that only prosecutors can apply for warrants, which Cho said is unheard of in other countries. The constitutional research advisory forum of the National Assembly made similar claims recently.
“In most advanced nations, a crime is investigated by the police, indicted by prosecutors and ruled by a court,” said Min Gap-ryong, the head of the investigation restructuring team at the National Police Agency. “Such a structure is meant to prevent a single law enforcement body monopolizing power.”
According to Representative Kim, the revision bill aims at providing the police with power of investigation while allowing the prosecution to conduct probes when necessary. The revision bill also includes a plan to allow the prosecution to demand the replacement of police officers and disciplinary action against officers in charge of an investigation.
The police and lawmakers added that the current system violates human rights because a victim has to face multiple interrogations that are often unnecessary. “People’s rights are often violated because the prosecution does not recognize the outcome of a police probe and has to reinvestigate a case,” a senior police official said. “Such overlapping investigations often take place even for a minor traffic accident or misdemeanor case.”
They also argued that it is more effective to grant the police the power to investigate as they are the ones in charge of probes.
However, it remains unclear if attempts to curtail the prosecution’s power will be approved by the National Assembly. Although the Democratic Party is pushing forward the plan, the Grand Nationals appear indifferent.
When he was a presidential candidate, Lee Myung-bak mentioned his support for more police empowerment, but the issue has not been included on the national agenda.
“We have many pending issues, such as the Sejong City project, four major rivers project and economic recovery,” a GNP official said.
By Kang In-sik, Ser Myo-ja [[email protected]]
“I have drafted a bill to revise the Criminal Procedure Act and am collecting signatures from lawmakers of both ruling and opposition parties,” said Representative Kim Hee-chull of the Democratic Party. “I will submit the bill to the National Assembly for deliberation before the end of this week.”
Representative Park Jie-won, chief policy maker of the Democratic Party, said the main opposition party will back the bill and the National Police Agency said it will help revise the law governing the specifics of the criminal investigation. The police have also asked academics to research the issue.
The JoongAng Ilbo recently obtained the results of research conducted by Cho Kuk, a law professor at Seoul National University, supporting the revision. The report notes that the current law governing criminal investigations should be revised because it does not recognize the police’s investigative power even though the police investigate most crimes in Korea.
The Democrats and the police pointed out that in other developed countries it is rare for a single law enforcement authority to exercise exclusive rights to investigate, prosecute and seek warrants. In Korea, the prosecution alone has all such powers.
According to the Democrats and the police, the police handle 98.8 percent of crimes in Korea, their argument for legalizing the investigative rights of the police.
The issue of dividing investigative powers between prosecutors and police has been repeatedly debated since the Criminal Procedure Act was first established in 1954. At the time, the legislature was concerned about the excessive empowerment of the police, which had played the role of intelligence agency, and did not stipulate the police’s investigative power.
The latest debate on this issue took place in 2004 and 2005, but no conclusion was reached.
Over the past half century, the law was never amended, and the prosecution was given the investigative power under the law, and it was the sole law enforcement body with the power of indictment.
The nation’s Constitution made it clear that only prosecutors can apply for warrants, which Cho said is unheard of in other countries. The constitutional research advisory forum of the National Assembly made similar claims recently.
“In most advanced nations, a crime is investigated by the police, indicted by prosecutors and ruled by a court,” said Min Gap-ryong, the head of the investigation restructuring team at the National Police Agency. “Such a structure is meant to prevent a single law enforcement body monopolizing power.”
According to Representative Kim, the revision bill aims at providing the police with power of investigation while allowing the prosecution to conduct probes when necessary. The revision bill also includes a plan to allow the prosecution to demand the replacement of police officers and disciplinary action against officers in charge of an investigation.
The police and lawmakers added that the current system violates human rights because a victim has to face multiple interrogations that are often unnecessary. “People’s rights are often violated because the prosecution does not recognize the outcome of a police probe and has to reinvestigate a case,” a senior police official said. “Such overlapping investigations often take place even for a minor traffic accident or misdemeanor case.”
They also argued that it is more effective to grant the police the power to investigate as they are the ones in charge of probes.
However, it remains unclear if attempts to curtail the prosecution’s power will be approved by the National Assembly. Although the Democratic Party is pushing forward the plan, the Grand Nationals appear indifferent.
When he was a presidential candidate, Lee Myung-bak mentioned his support for more police empowerment, but the issue has not been included on the national agenda.
“We have many pending issues, such as the Sejong City project, four major rivers project and economic recovery,” a GNP official said.
By Kang In-sik, Ser Myo-ja [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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