Appeals filed by complainants contesting police decisions not to refer cases to prosecutors have more than doubled over the past four years. This year, the figure exceeded 34,000 in the first half alone, raising the possibility that the total could approach 70,000 by year-end.
According to data submitted by the National Police Agency to Rep. Kim Jae-sup of the People Power Party on the 26th, complainants filed 56,165 appeals against police non-referral decisions last year. That is 2.1 times the 27,262 filed in 2021, an increase over four years.
Appeals filed through June this year reached 34,001. If this trend continues, the annual number of appeals could rise to around 70,000.
An appeal is a procedure filed by a complainant contesting a police decision not to refer a case to prosecutors. When a complainant files an appeal, police must immediately refer the case to prosecutors.
The rise in appeals is attributed to an increase in police non-referral decisions themselves. Non-referral decisions rose 49% from 389,179 in 2021 to 580,774 last year.
The problem is that the ratio of appeals to non-referral decisions is also rising. This ratio climbed from 7% in 2021 to 9.7% last year, and reached 11.3% in the first half of this year, meaning appeals are being filed in about one out of every 10 cases.
Cases in which prosecutors overturned police non-referral decisions after appeals are also increasing. Cases in which prosecutors conducted supplementary investigations themselves or indicted after requesting supplementary investigations from police numbered 1,130 last year, 2.1 times the 528 in 2021.
The number of "investigation review" requests, a police investigation oversight mechanism introduced in 2021 along with the reallocation of investigative authority between police and prosecutors, also tripled from 2,131 in 2021 to 6,223 last year.
Investigation review is a procedure filed by parties to a case, such as complainants and accusers, who argue that investigative procedures or results were unfair or unlawful. If a request is deemed appropriate, an investigation review committee involving outside experts such as lawyers and legal scholars is convened. The committee can direct measures such as "supplementary or re-investigation," "expedited processing," "transfer or reassignment to another department or agency," and "on-site correction or education" through deliberation. While these are not binding, they are difficult to reject without justifiable reason.
In fact, cases in which the committee was convened after problems were found in the investigation process rose 57.7% from 156 in 2021 to 246 last year. In particular, 140 were held in the first half of this year alone, with a record high expected this year. The number of cases in which the committee directed "supplementary or re-investigation" surged 8.9-fold from 80 in 2021 to 711 last year.
Analysts inside and outside the police say that since police gained "first-tier authority to close cases" in 2021, wariness toward police oversight and distrust of investigative capabilities have led to the increase in appeals and investigation review requests.
A lawyer with a police background who has handled clients' appeals said, "Since the reallocation of investigative authority, police freed from the prosecution's chain of command have tended to be passive in investigations involving fraud and financial crimes, where cases are complex or proving charges is difficult."
Amid this situation, some argue that oversight by prosecutors is still needed. A deputy chief prosecutor said, "The increase in the number of appeals shows the demand for prosecutorial oversight of police," adding, "This is why the necessity of referring all cases and similar measures is being raised." Full referral, a system requiring police to hand over all investigated cases to prosecutors, was abolished during the 2021 reallocation of investigative authority between police and prosecutors.
Rep. Kim Jae-sup argued, "The fact that citizens cannot accept the results of police investigations means that police investigations were that inadequate," adding, "Eliminating even the supplementary investigation authority that could filter these out, at a time when distrust of police is growing, is out of order."
