Prosecutors investigating a Jeju police officer accused of falsely closing missing-person reports searched the Jeju Police Agency and the Jeju Western Police Precinct for a second consecutive day.
The Jeju District Prosecutors' Office said on the 9th that it had sent prosecutors and investigators to both offices from that morning to collect records related to the handling of missing-person cases. Prosecutors said they returned for an additional search because they had not obtained all the material they needed the previous day.
A day earlier, prosecutors searched the criminal division of the Jeju Police Agency; the precinct chief's office, criminal division, missing-persons team and duty room at the Jeju Western Police Precinct; and the headquarters of the Korean National Police Agency. The searches were aimed at directly verifying the procedures under which the police missing-persons system is operated and managed.
Prosecutors are believed to have obtained internal messenger conversations among police staff during the searches. Forensic investigators were also deployed to the Jeju Western Police Precinct to recover digital records. At the Jeju Police Agency, the department that conducted a full review of the 298 missing-person cases handled by the officer, identified only as a senior patrol officer surnamed A, was also included in the search.
With the compulsory searches continuing for a second day across the national police headquarters, the Jeju Police Agency and the Jeju Western Police Precinct, attention is turning to whether the investigation will expand beyond the officer's own alleged actions to the supervisory responsibility of the officer's superiors.
Investigators found that the officer logged into the missing-persons profiling system in administrator mode, entered false reasons for closing cases such as "died in a traffic accident," and deleted entries from the management log. Prosecutors are expected to examine whether reporting, direction and oversight by superiors were carried out properly.
The officer is accused of falsely closing a missing-person report on May 15 involving a woman in her 30s surnamed Jang, and another on July 2 involving a man in his 60s surnamed Park. Prosecutors took over the case from police on the 1st and are continuing the investigation.
A full review by the Jeju Police Agency of the 298 cases the officer closed while working on the missing-persons team from March last year through July this year found 25 additional instances of improper handling, including false closures and deletions from the profiling system's management log, beyond the cases already known. Police are also investigating those cases.
