South Korea's police are expanding a case-transfer rule that sends investigations involving police officers' family members to a different station, a step aimed at preventing conflicts of interest such as shielding colleagues. The rule now covers siblings in addition to spouses and direct ascendants and descendants, and it also applies to cases involving families of officers who worked at the station within the past three years.
The Korean National Police Agency said on the 8th that it is implementing the guideline, under which cases are transferred to another police station when an officer's family member is a party to the case.
Under the rule, an investigator must file a recusal request if a spouse, direct ascendant or descendant, or sibling of an officer currently serving at the investigator's station — or one who served there within the past three years — is identified as a party to the case. The case is then transferred, under the direction of the provincial or metropolitan police agency, to another station within the same court jurisdiction.
The central change in the guideline is the extension of the rule to siblings. Previously, the system applied mainly to officers' spouses and direct ascendants and descendants. The police investigation reform committee said at its fourth meeting that the scope needed to be widened to siblings to make the system more effective, and the agency adopted the recommendation.
Exceptions allow the original station to continue an investigation when transferring the case is difficult. These include situations where the investigation must proceed to protect victims, or where a suspect is detained after an emergency arrest or an arrest in the act.
Controls were put in place for those exceptions. A station seeking to retain a case must obtain approval from the head of the provincial or metropolitan police agency. It must then undergo monthly reviews of whether the case is being handled appropriately and whether it should be transferred to another station.
The agency said it will continue discussions on follow-up measures tied to the revised Criminal Procedure Act and on institutional changes to strengthen oversight of police investigations.
