[Editorial] End Point System for Police Arrests

The police program of awarding points to officers for making arrests, which has long been cited as something that leads to infringements of suspects' rights, is coming under scrutiny within the National Police Agency (NPA). Now that the courts and the prosecution are moving to hold more investigations without holding suspects under arrest, the police point system, too, will inevitably need a complete overhaul. The attitude of everyone in an organization towards their jobs is decisively influenced by how the organization assesses its people. In the case of the police, with whom regular citizens deal with every day, the way the organization assess its employees for promotion and placement directly relates to the everyday lives of the people and to civil rights.

Put simply, the point program long used by the national police is a system in which "bonus" points are given when a suspect is arrested. As is the case with any civil service organization, promotion and advancement is of the greatest interest to its members, and so it is only natural that police officers have tried to achieve improve personal job performance by arresting people under suspicion. How serious it would have to be for police to use the expression "Goal!" between themselves upon making arrests. The expression is a fine demonstration of an atmosphere where the work does not mean much unless you "score" one of those "goal," even when that means driving the ball all the way up through the goal posts.

Aware of the criticism, last May the NPA revised part of the program so that currently arrests win fewer points than they used to. That, however, is not enough. There are still many times when police go overboard in applying for arrest warrants in cases that do not require that a suspect is held for an investigation to proceed, and the phenomenon in which suspects who really do need to be put behind bars are not given the same attention as those who score you more points continues to be a problem.

If the police have decided to fix the problem, the right thing to do would be to get rid of the program altogether. If they employ some wisdom they should be able to come up with a more diverse and rational system of job performance appraisal that is not based on the number of suspects apprehended. No matter what happens, the country must not let the people's basic rights be infringed upon because of a desire by the police as an organization to make internal matters more convenient for themselves.

The Hankyoreh, 1 February 2006.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]