Police reform panel calls for major expansion of lawyer hires

A police reform panel has identified legal expertise as the most urgent capability gap for police to address under the new criminal justice system, recommending a significant expansion in the hiring of attorney-qualified officers.

The Police Investigation Reform Committee for Public Trust held a background briefing at the Korean National Police Agency headquarters in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday, recommending that the agency hire at least 100 attorney-qualified police officers per year over the next five years and assign them to investigative units.

Park Yong-dae, director of the judicial center at Lawyers for a Democratic Society and a member of the reform committee, said legal capacity is one of the areas police must strengthen most quickly, adding that the committee voted to recommend the large-scale hiring to the agency.

"To raise public confidence in police investigative capabilities, we believe each police station needs three to four attorneys assigned to it," Park said. "There are currently 311 attorney-qualified personnel in the police force — less than 1 percent of the total — meaning at least 500 more need to be hired."

The committee said the recommendation came after compiling input from frontline officers and the public on the rollout of the revised Code of Criminal Procedure, which abolishes the prosecution's investigative authority.

"When we spoke with officers at local stations, there was broad agreement that specialized expertise is lacking," Park said. "With prosecutors no longer conducting investigations, concerns have been raised about the legal expertise of police investigators, and lawyers within the force are needed to address that gap from the public's perspective."

The committee also said that alongside expanding hiring, police must improve compensation and working conditions to prevent attorney-qualified investigators from leaving the force.

"The newly launched Serious Crimes Investigation Agency will also be recruiting investigators, and it would be problematic if a stigma develops that top legal talent goes to that agency while lesser candidates go to the police," Park said. "Police need to develop a comprehensive package of incentives — covering promotion, pay and career development — to attract lawyers."

Kim Nam-jun, the committee's chair, said police have strong public-safety capabilities but are relatively weak in legal judgment during investigations. "If personnel with law licenses join the force, that weakness can be addressed," he said.

Kim added that the Prime Minister's Office and the National Assembly's police reform bodies would issue their own recommendations or decisions going forward, and that the committee would focus specifically on matters related to investigations.

The committee plans to finalize its recommendations as early as this month. It was launched on July 27 following the Jang Yun-gi case — in which a Gwangju high school girl was murdered — after evidence emerged suggesting police had systematically concealed details of the case.