Questions/Answers

With society growing more and more complex, a variety of crimes are occurring in specialized and unique areas that are often difficult for the general police to investigate as they lack the specialized knowledge required. The Special Judicial Police System allows the prompt and efficient execution of tasks by granting judicial and investigative powers to civil servants with high levels of expertise in such areas. Gyeonggi Province has strengthened its Special Judicial Police system to ensure that investigations in areas closely related to the lives of residents, such as healthcare, environment, and animal protection, are conducted efficiently as well as to prevent crime and enhance the welfare of all. This initiative has three specific objectives. The first is to investigate crimes that infringe upon the livelihoods of provincial residents so as to ensure safety and fair treatment. To secure people’s trust, Gyeonggi Province is actively investigating areas that are closely related to people’s livelihoods. The second objective is to make statistics from investigations conducted by the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police publicly available so as to safeguard the people’s right to know and strengthen their confidence in public institutions. To accomplish this objective, the Gyeonggi Provincial Government is currently building an investigation data processing system that will be used to publically disclose information. Specifically, Gyeonggi Province is conducting job training and workshops while also implementing internal guidelines designed to protect the rights of suspects and witnesses. In summary, this initiative will strengthen the Special Judicial Police System with the aim of preventing crime and giving citizens greater confidence in the safety and fairness of their society.

This initiative is linked to the first category of delivering inclusive and equitable services that leave no one behind. By investigating issues that are closely related to people’s lives, Gyeonggi Province’s Special Judicial Police work to create a safe environment for all provincial residents, including the underprivileged. In addition, the disclosure of computerized statistics generated from investigation-related data will increase public access to the crime statistics service. Finally, the Special Judicial Police also provide administrative services, such as advance notice of investigations, and publicizing violations in an effort to help small merchants avoid committing the same infractions.

This initiative supports three SDGs: “Good Health and Well-being” (SDG 3), “Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11),” and “Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions” (SDG 16). First, it promotes public health by investigating issues related to food and medicine, which are directly related to people’s lives (SDG 3). For instance, the Special Judicial Police recently exposed pharmacies that were committing illegal acts, such as selling expired medicines, thus protecting people’s right to health. Second, this initiative contributes to the creation of safe and sustainable cities by investigating environment-related issues (SDG 11). For example, Gyeonggi Province’s Special Judicial Police recently exposed a business that was illegally disposing of asbestos, which is a Group 1 carcinogen. Lastly, the Special Judicial Police are realizing the value of equality and justice by investigating issues that are closely related to the lives of the people (SDG 16). These efforts strengthen public trust in public law enforcement.

Socially, we must strive to minimize the number of people who suffer damage due to their ignorance of the law. To this end, Gyeonggi Province sends out guidelines and investigation notices in advance, giving people time to rectify violations. Economically, the economic benefits gained by preventing illegal acts should exceed the economic losses incurred by investigations. Although a small number of offenders may suffer temporary financial losses, such as fines, due to investigations, we believe that the economic benefits of preventing illegal activities are much greater. Environmentally, we are improving environmental sustainability by investigating environment-related issues.

The Republic of Korea is one of the best-policed countries in the world. However, many illegal activities continue to occur in areas that are closely related to people’s lives, such as the environment, food, and animal protection. To investigate such issues in a timely and efficient manner, Gyeonggi Province has established and is continuously expanding the Special Judicial Police. In 2018, additional departments were created within the police force and investigative areas were expanded. In 2019, in line with the expansion of departments within the force, the budget for the Special Judicial Police was nearly doubled. Currently, the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police are working to increase their investigative capacities by expanding areas of investigation.

The Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police are currently in the process of establishing internal investigation guidelines to protect the rights of suspects and witnesses. One of the items specified in the guidelines is to have an adult woman present when investigations involve the physical search of a woman. Another item is to have a female investigator search or be present when a search is being conducted of a female suspect. By including these points in the guidelines, the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police is working to prevent issues related to gender inequality in their investigations.

The target of this initiative is the residents of Gyeonggi Province, who can be divided into two groups. The first group are the subjects of the Special Judicial Police’s investigations. The people in this group tend to be working in areas that are related to the lives of the residents of Gyeonggi Province, such as waste disposal operators and carriers, restaurant owners, and food importers. In the short term, this group of people may suffer financial losses due to the expansion of the Special Judicial Police, as they will face fines or business suspensions if they are caught engaging in illegal activities. In the long term, however, this initiative will help end the illegal activities of the few and prevent the majority of law-abiding people from suffering losses. The second group are the residents of Gyeonggi Province who indirectly benefit from the investigations of the Special Judicial Police. With the first group is compelled to follow the law, the second group receives the benefits of environmental and sanitation improvements as well as better food safety.

In 2009, Gyeonggi Province created the Special Judicial Police and began conducting investigations in the six areas most closely related to the lives of residents: food, the environment, public health, country-of-origin indication, medicine, and youth. Through its efforts to expand and strengthen the Special Judicial Police, Gyeonggi Province was able to increase the number of related personnel to 152 and the number of divisions from one to two; it was also able to expand the areas of investigation to 23, including illegal loan operations, animal protection, illegal use of streams and rivers, and false trademarks. As of 2019, Gyeonggi Province has two Special Judicial Police divisions comprised of 13 teams and 178 personnel. In addition, the Special Judicial Police conduct surveys of residents every year to assess and evaluate the performance of the initiative. In the 2019 survey, 78.8 percent of respondents indicated that the expansion and reinforcement of the Special Judicial Police was a good measure.

This initiative faces an economic obstacle and a legal obstacle. Economically, Gyeonggi Province has a limited budget, making it difficult to expand the Special Judicial Police. Legally, as the areas of investigation of the Special Judicial Police Force are regulated by law, it is necessary to revise relevant laws to expand these areas. To overcome these obstacles, cooperation is required between the budgeting department and the department responsible for the police. It is also important to inform the Korean National Assembly, central government, and provincial residents of the necessity for this initiative so as to facilitate its implementation.

With steady increase in cybercrime, the need for technologies to find and analyze digital evidence continues to grow. Digital forensics is a branch of forensic science in which scientific investigatory techniques are used to collect and recover data from digital devices in order to find evidence of crime. An example of this is the recovery of text messages and call histories from a suspect’s phone. Gyeonggi Province was the first local government in Korea to establish a scientific investigative team within the Special Judicial Police to perform various digital forensics tasks.

Recently, the Korean police and prosecution services have been planning to install and operate teams dedicated to digital forensics within cybercrime investigation teams in order to investigate cybercrimes. Inspired by such changes, Gyeonggi Province also recognized the need for scientific investigations, leading it to form a separate team dedicated to scientific investigations as well as a separate budget for digital forensics.

Seoul Metropolitan Government was the first local government in Korea to form a special judicial police force dedicated to conducting investigations. In 2008, Seoul established its Special Judicial Police, with other local governments soon following suit. Gyeonggi Province formed its Special Judicial Police in 2009, one year after Seoul. However, thanks to its continued reinforcement efforts, Gyeonggi Province now has the largest number of investigators and areas of investigation of all local governments in Korea.

The Special Judicial Police System has not been adopted by many countries around the world. Japan, which is governed by civil law like the Republic of Korea, has a similar special judicial police system, but the scope of that force is more limited compared to Korea’s special judicial police. With Korean society having developed rapidly within a short period of time, changes in administrative systems have not been able to keep up. To respond promptly and efficiently to such administrative demand, Korea implemented the Special Judicial Police System, which grants investigative rights to public officials with specific expertise. For countries that have undergone rapid development like Korea, the implementation of the Special Judicial Police System will help them respond to the rapidly increasing administrative demands and ensure the safety of their people.

First, as the Special Judicial Police grew, human resources and budgets were invested into the force’s investigative activities. Second, to create an environment for conducting scientific investigations and increase people’s access to investigation-related statistics, we are currently establishing a computerized system of investigation statistics in which human and financial resources have been invested as well. Lastly, to prevent people from accidentally committing illegal acts due to ignorance of the law, we have invested resources in distributing and publicizing cases of violations and providing consultations on whether or not certain cases constitute illegal activities.

To continue expanding the Special Judicial Police, we must inform and persuade those responsible for budget planning about the necessity for this initiative. Within the Gyeonggi Provincial Government, we have continued to speak about the necessity for this initiative in collaboration with departments overseeing budget deliberation. Outside of the government, we have publicized the accomplishments realized through the expansion of the Special Judicial Police. Institutionally, it has been important to inform the Korean National Assembly, which undertakes revisions of relevant laws for the Special Judicial Police System, about the necessity of reinforcing the system.

Yes

The 2019 performance evaluation of the Special Judicial Police was conducted via a telephone survey that targeted 1,000 residents of Gyeonggi Province aged 19 or older. The evaluators were systematically and objectively selected in consideration of gender, age, and region in proportion to the composition of the population of Gyeonggi Province.

The survey examined the level of public awareness in Gyeonggi Province regarding the expansion and reinforcement of the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police. We also evaluated resident satisfaction with the initiative to expand and strengthen the police force.

The 2019 survey results showed that the residents of Gyeonggi Province have grown increasingly aware of the Special Judicial Police and that evaluations of investigative activities were very positive. According to the survey, 44.1 percent of all respondents indicated that they were aware of the Special Judicial Police’s investigative activities, representing a significant improvement from 2016 when only 29 answered that they were aware of the activities. In addition, 67.8 percent answered that they believed the Special Judicial Police were doing a good job in their investigations. Gyeonggi Province is informing residents of the province about these results in order to publicize the successes of and necessity for the initiative.

First, investigations conducted by the Special Judicial Police of Gyeonggi Province, which is a local government, are closely related to the activities of the Supreme Prosecution Service, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Justice under the Korean central government, as the Special Judicial Police receives its authority to investigate from the Supreme Prosecution Service. The Special Judicial Police is also related to the National Police Agency, which is affiliated with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, as the special judicial police and general police occasionally conduct joint investigations. Secondly, the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police also cooperates with a variety of other departments in the Gyeonggi Provincial Government and with city/county governments within Gyeonggi Province, depending on the area of investigation. For instance, when the force investigates illegal activities in rivers and valleys, it cooperates with the Gyeonggi Provincial Government department responsible for rivers as well as the equivalent department within the city/county government.

The process of reinforcing the role of the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police involves various stakeholders. First, in the design process, the Gyeonggi Provincial Government needed to cooperate with the department overseeing organizational tasks. It also needed to consult the local police agency regarding the expansion of its areas of investigation. Second, in the implementation process, cooperation with other departments was necessary for each area of investigation. For instance, environment-related investigations required cooperation with the environmental department of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government, and the Special Judicial Police Force also cooperated with related departments in city/county governments when necessary. Lastly, we conducted a survey to evaluate the performance of this initiative with the participation of the residents of Gyeonggi Province.

Gyeonggi Province has been guaranteeing safety and ensuring fairness for all residents by reinforcing the role of the Special Judicial Police. The lesson that we learned through resident evaluation of the force is that it is very important to uphold the value of justice in areas that are closely related to the lives of residents. If justice is not upheld in these areas, it will be impossible for the people to trust government administrative agencies. The Special Judicial Police System was developed to enable the government to respond promptly and efficiently to the various administrative demands resulting from the rapid development of Korean society. However, the Special Judicial Police lack the general capacity to conduct investigations in specific areas that require expert or legal knowledge. To remedy these shortcomings, the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police are striving to reinforce their investigative capabilities through basic training for new entrants, job training, and presentations on particular cases.