Police Reform Group Launched... Will Listen to 'Citizens' Jury' Opinions

Collecting Public Opinion for Three Months, Culminating in a 100-Day Year-End Report

Gathering Feedback from the Field to Address Blind Spots and Improve Efficiency

The police have launched a Police Reform Group to implement reform initiatives. In particular, when issues of significant public concern arise, the group plans to utilize a citizens' jury system to deliberate on countermeasures and assess their appropriateness.

Kim Jongchul, Acting Commissioner of the National Police Agency (second from the left), is posing for a commemorative photo at the plaque unveiling ceremony of the "Citizen Participation and Field Accompaniment Police Reform Group" held on the morning of the 9th at the National Police Agency in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. National Police Agency

On the morning of September 9, the National Police Agency launched the "National Participation and Field Accompaniment Police Reform Group" and held an unveiling ceremony. To ensure the interconnectivity of reform measures, the head of the Local Police Planning Team (Senior Superintendent) will concurrently serve as the group leader, and the group will be organized into two teams: the Reform Planning Team and the Institutional Improvement Team. In the personnel appointments scheduled for the second half of the year, a Superintendent-level team leader and operational staff will be assigned to each team.

The Police Reform Group will engage in communication with external police reform bodies, such as the Office for Government Policy Coordination and the Democratic Party of Korea, while also taking responsibility for concretely implementing issues identified both internally and externally, including from the National Investigation Headquarters' Investigation Reform Committee. Independently, the group also intends to review the overall organization, personnel, and work processes to identify strategies for revamping the operational framework.

As a first step, the group will introduce a tentative “Police Policy Citizens’ Jury” system for matters of high public interest and concern. The jury pool will be composed with representatives nominated by organizations that reflect the voices of various groups in society, such as the socially disadvantaged and crime victims, in order to ensure appropriate representation. Through the direct comparison and deliberation of various police countermeasures by the citizens' jury, the effectiveness and appropriateness of responses to critical issues will be evaluated.

In addition, the Police Reform Group will hold a national listening session series called “100 Days of Police Reform with the People.” These sessions will travel nationwide from September through November to gather public participation, culminating in a 100-day briefing session at the end of the year. Program highlights include the “Magnifying Glass Project” and “Field Staff On the Move,” which feature the involvement of frontline personnel. The group will also operate a channel for submitting proposals aimed at improving inefficiencies and addressing blind spots or potential loopholes in work processes that may lead to distortion or irregularities.

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