Zero applicants for Gwangsan Police Station's women and youth unit after Jang Yun-gi case
Investigators cite workload, criminal liability risk as deterrents; call for real incentives
Avoidance of investigative units has again become starkly apparent in the first regular personnel reshuffle by the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency since the Jang Yun-gi case.
According to Yonhap, the agency carried out its second-half regular personnel rotation on Friday, reassigning 84 officers at the inspector rank and below. Most front-line police stations struggled to fill vacancies in their investigative units.
The problem was particularly acute at Gwangsan Police Station, where numerous investigators were booked or questioned multiple times in connection with the Jang Yun-gi case.
At the women and youth unit — which handled Jang's stalking and sex crime cases — a significant number of the roughly 30 staff members reportedly requested transfers to other departments ahead of the reshuffle. No officers from other units applied to join the women and youth unit.
A similar mood prevailed at other front-line stations. In some cases, existing investigators had to personally contact officers in patrol and non-investigative units to persuade them to apply, barely managing to fill the positions.
"Since the Jang Yun-gi case, there's a growing sense that even a small judgment call during an investigation could affect your career," one investigator at a front-line station said. "I think that's why more and more officers are leaving investigative units or hesitating to apply for them."
'Reshuffling staff alone won't fix the problem'
Avoidance of investigative units has been a chronic problem since the 2021 redistribution of investigative authority between prosecutors and police, which increased caseloads and expanded officers' accountability.
This year, the burden has grown heavier still, with investigators facing criminal charges or becoming subjects of inquiry over the handling of evidence and alleged leaks of investigative information in the Jang Yun-gi case.
The Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency has begun drawing up its own remedies to ease the avoidance trend.
Starting Monday, the agency plans to reduce the number of officers permanently stationed at Gwangju city's integrated CCTV control center — a non-investigative post — from four to one, redirecting the freed-up personnel to investigative units. It also plans to transfer about 30 officers from its mobile unit to five front-line stations to help address the staffing shortage.
Officers on the ground say that simply reshuffling personnel will not resolve the underlying problem, and that the agency must reduce workloads and introduce meaningful incentives such as faster promotions and higher allowances.
"There's a limit to just forcing people into positions," one investigator said. "The personnel and compensation systems need to be reformed, and the structure of the work itself needs attention — for example, the women and youth unit needs a clearer separation between investigative duties and prevention and victim-protection work."
newday@heraldcorp.com
