"Morning Meetings Were the First to Change"... How Things Have Changed Since the Acting National Police Chief Took Office

Situation review meeting attendees elevated at police stations nationwide
Faster response to missing-person cases and interpersonal crimes
Decision-makers can act swiftly; elevated structure to remain in place

"We are in a meeting."

These days, a section chief at a police station in Seoul leaves home at around 7 a.m. He needs to review reports that came in overnight and cases handled by the duty officers before attending a meeting chaired by the station chief at 8:30 a.m. Other section chiefs are in much the same situation. He receives reports from team leaders at around 8 a.m. and heads to the conference room 30 minutes later. This has become the morning routine for section chiefs at police stations on the front lines.

Jeju Western Police Station. Not related to the article. Yonhap News Agency.

As reforms to the criminal justice system have created a structure in which police are effectively responsible for conducting investigations independently across the board, a growing sense of responsibility is being felt within the force. In particular, as public interest in interpersonal crimes and missing-person cases grows, the workload for police officers is also increasing. The change is first evident at the situation review meetings held every morning at police stations across the country.

According to reporting by The Asia Business Daily on Nov. 1, the National Police Agency sent a directive to police agencies nationwide on Sept. 7, instructing them to raise the seniority of officials required to attend situation review meetings. As a result, at local police stations, attendees were elevated from team leaders to section chiefs; at metropolitan and provincial police agencies, from section chiefs and team leaders to division heads; and at the National Police Agency headquarters, from section chiefs to bureau chiefs. This means that decision-makers, rather than working-level staff, now attend meetings at all 261 police stations, 18 metropolitan and provincial police agencies, and the National Police Agency headquarters.

Situation review meetings are held to check whether there were any unusual incidents or accidents in the area the previous day. Their start times may vary depending on local circumstances, but they generally begin around 8:30 a.m. At the meetings, police analyze 112 emergency calls received the previous day and put cases deemed significant on the agenda. They also discuss matters involving multiple departments that are under investigation, events that draw large crowds such as rallies and protests, and other aspects of police station operations. The meetings are held on weekends and public holidays as well.

Acting National Police Agency Commissioner General Kim Jongcheol receives a report from an official during the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee’s audit of the agency at its headquarters in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, on the 12th of last month. Photo by Kim Hyunmin.

The key to this measure is to skip the existing "re-reporting" stage. Previously, team leaders attending the situation review meeting had to return to their departments and report again to their section chiefs. The problem was that this process could take longer for cases requiring multiple departments to work together, such as missing-person cases and interpersonal crimes. An official from the National Police Agency explained, "Rather than going through an additional reporting stage after working-level staff give their reports, senior officials with decision-making authority can participate directly, enabling them to make prompt judgments and formulate countermeasures."

The move comes amid growing pressure on the police. Following a series of incidents, including the Jang Yun-gi case and a missing-person case in Jeju, Kim Jongcheol, acting chief of the National Police Agency, said in his first official message after taking office on Sept. 3 that he would "root out the culture of concealing or covering up police wrongdoing." He also stressed that the police would "establish a response system that does not let the golden hour for public safety slip away, from the initial response through reporting, command, case closure, and final accountability." The situation review meetings were elevated four days later.

The police plan to maintain this approach. While the head of each agency may decide flexibly who attends based on local circumstances, the stated principle is that decision-makers should participate directly. With the responsibility for investigations growing, the police aim to speed up their response through morning meetings. A section chief at a police station in Seoul also described the benefits, saying, "Experienced section chiefs can catch things team leaders may have missed, and when a section chief gives instructions directly, staff act much faster." Attention is now turning to whether the police plan to shorten reporting lines and make prompt, accountable decisions will lead to improvements in frontline response that the public can feel.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.