Police failures demand accountability at the top

A series of missing-persons cases in Jeju has exposed deeply troubling failures in policing. Cases were buried after an officer falsely closed them on his own, and the missing people were ultimately found dead. The absence of an adequate initial response is disturbing enough. Without families reporting the cases again and growing public attention, even their bodies might not have been recovered. During the subsequent large-scale searches, another missing person was also found dead.

Public anxiety has grown as flaws in the policing system have emerged, while confidence in the police has plummeted. People are entitled to wonder where they can turn when even reporting a disappearance does not ensure an investigation.

The handling of the cases by the Jeju Western Police Station was astonishingly lax. After receiving reports that a woman in her 30s and a man in his 60s were missing, police officer Boo told their families that their safety had been confirmed but that they did not wish to contact relatives. In fact, he had not verified their whereabouts.

Boo then closed the cases at his own discretion and removed their registrations from the police missing-person profiling system, an internal database that records missing-person reports, discoveries, search progress and reasons for closing cases. The episode suggests that an officer could effectively bury a case at its earliest stage with little difficulty.

The subsequent investigation has also raised questions about basic police competence. Police took Boo into emergency custody on Saturday on suspicion of dereliction of duty and other charges. But a court ordered his release Monday afternoon after accepting his petition challenging the legality of the arrest.

Under the Criminal Procedure Act, emergency arrest is permitted only when there is insufficient time to obtain a warrant. Since police already knew Boo’s whereabouts, the court found there was insufficient urgency to justify arresting him without one. Police appeared so intent on containing the fallout that they failed to meet even fundamental procedural requirements.

Public distrust of police investigations is mounting amid the false closure of the Jeju cases, allegations that an investigation into the murder of a high school girl in Gwangju was improperly curtailed and accusations that cases have been suppressed through collusion with interested parties.

Yet police leaders have offered apologies without anyone at the top taking responsibility. Acting National Police Agency Commissioner General Yoo Jae-seong appeared before the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee yesterday and apologized for the Jeju cases.

Apologies alone are not enough. If police are to fulfill their fundamental duty of protecting lives and public safety, senior leadership must demonstrate accountability and take responsibility for correcting systemic failures.