Police said on the 15th that the time it takes to process cases has shortened since the adjustment of investigative authority between the prosecution and police.
Acting Korean National Police Agency Commissioner Yu Jae-seong said at a regular press briefing the same day that "as a result of efforts on multiple fronts, the average case-processing time, which had increased after investigative authority reform, has been shortened to the level before the reform."
Earlier, the Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office released statistics showing that the average time to process criminal cases rose from 142.1 days in 2020 to 312.7 days last year. In 2021, the Moon Jae-in administration adjusted investigative authority to reduce the prosecution's investigative powers. Police appear to be rebutting the prosecution's statistics by saying that, when considering only the police stage since 2021, the time to process cases has actually decreased.
By year, the police's average case-processing time decreased to ▲ 55.6 days in 2020 ▲ 64.2 days in 2021 ▲ 67.7 days in 2022 ▲ 63.0 days in 2023 ▲ 56.2 days in 2024. This year, as of last month, it stands at 54.4 days. After peaking in 2023, it has been gradually declining.
According to police, the prosecution's statistics add in periods when police conduct supplementary investigations at the prosecution's request. By contrast, in cases not sent to the prosecution, the police can now close cases at the police stage, which, from the public's standpoint, has shortened the processing time, the police said.
Police analyzed that the shorter processing time was made possible by building a Head of Team-centered investigative system and expanding personnel. To that end, they plan to increase annual hiring of new police officers from 4,800 to 6,400. Acting Commissioner Yu added, "We recently prepared a comprehensive roadmap to strengthen police investigative capacity," and "we will continue to enhance our capabilities and minimize long-term cases so that we become an investigative agency the public can trust."
She noted, however, that in response to concerns about the "overexpansion of police power," the plan is to strengthen democratic oversight and political neutrality by gradually expanding the dualized autonomous police system and making the National Police Commission more substantive.