Recently, amid three police officers taking their own lives or dying from overwork within the past ten days, the National Police Workplace Union has urged for fundamental improvements in the system and work environment that pressure frontline police officers to achieve results without sufficient manpower. The union held a press conference in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Seodaemun-gu this morning, demanding to stop result-oriented performance evaluations and to reinforce manpower.
The chairman of the union, Min Gweon-hee, stated, “The National Investigation Headquarters has been pressuring our frontline police officers with result-oriented evaluations, such as lining up based on performance and stripping lower-ranked officers of their team leader positions, instead of conducting on-site investigations.” He emphasized the need for measures to be taken.
Furthermore, the union pointed out that the emphasis on result-oriented evaluations and organizational restructuring due to last year’s reorganization has led to a shortage of manpower in the field, causing excessive workload and stress for frontline police officers. They demanded the abolition of the Criminal Mobilization Unit and Mobile Patrol Unit created through the reorganization and the restoration of manpower to their original state.
Min, the chairman, explained, “Despite our demands during the organizational restructuring for the Mobile Patrol Unit to handle 112 reports and the Criminal Mobilization Unit to deal with civil complaints and criminal accusations, they were not accepted.” He added, “Commendations and promotions are now focused on the newly established departments, causing existing staff to feel deprived.”
The union emphasized that the tears and pain of police officers who sacrificed themselves to protect the public have been overlooked, and that the extreme choices made by their colleagues due to work stress have been a significant shock. They stressed that the sadness and helplessness felt in the face of their colleagues’ deaths cannot be expressed in words and that the repeated deaths of police officers should not be allowed to happen again.
The union plans to conduct a one-person protest in front of the National Police Agency until this afternoon, urging for the implementation of measures.
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