A police officer received a standby order after making dozens of prank calls to a citizen who was questioned as a witness. The police have launched an investigation into the officer.
According to a report from Yonhap News on the 29th, the Chungnam Cheonan North Police Station has placed Officer A, affiliated with the district unit, on standby and is currently conducting an investigation.
Officer A made about twenty prank calls to citizen B between 6 and 7 a.m. on the 16th using the district unit's work phone. Officer A repeatedly called B and made sounds like 'nya nya nya' or uttered incomprehensible words, hanging up unilaterally.
Citizen B, who had been questioned as a witness in a different case the previous night, reportedly filed a complaint regarding Officer A's demeanor during the inquiry. Officer A explained during the investigation that he did this to distract the witness's attention from other employees regarding the handling of the previous night's incident.
Citizen B realized that the number from which the calls were made was the district unit's number where he had been questioned the day before and reported this to the National Complaint Center.
A police official told Yonhap News, 'The officer was put on standby as it was deemed inappropriate for public duty, and we are taking this incident seriously and conducting an investigation.'