As allegations of a botched investigation and collusion surfaced in the case of "Jeonnam Gwangju high school girl killer" Jang Yun-gi, data showed that more than 17,000 police officers have been working at the same station for over 10 years.
According to materials obtained by Lee Sang-sik of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the Public Administration and Security Committee, from the Korean National Police Agency on the 27th, as of the 14th of this month, the number of police officers at the rank of inspector or below who have served more than 10 years at the same police station stood at 17,130. That accounts for 13.3% of all officers at inspector rank or below (128,297).
Typically, senior superintendents and above are reassigned nationwide on a one-year cycle. Senior inspectors rotate every one to two years. In contrast, the rotation cycle for inspectors and below is longer than five years, prompting concerns about "local entrenchment."
The proportion of long-term service among inspectors and below was higher in the provinces than in Seoul. In the Seoul Metropolitan Police, those at inspector rank and below who served more than 10 years at the same station made up 8.3% of all officers. By contrast, North Jeolla was 23.8%, North Chungcheong 21.6%, South Chungcheong 21.1%, and North Gyeongsang 19.9%, meaning about one in five officers worked at a single station for more than 10 years.
Following the controversy over the botched investigation in the Jang Yun-gi case, police formed the "task force for restoring trust in police investigations" and are reviewing plans to expand rotations, aiming to implement them in the first half of 2027.
However, the National Police Workplace Council and others are pushing back, saying the authorities are trying to force rotations without proper measures. Some within the force also argue that frequent rotations could actually undermine investigative capability.