More than 2,700 turn in handcuffs in symbolic protest


Thousands of police officers plan to turn in their handcuffs to the government as a symbolic gesture to protest a proposed change in criminal investigation procedures.

“We will use the symbolic act of turning in our handcuffs to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Justice Ministry to demonstrate how seriously we take the case,” said one police official Friday, declining to be named.

So far, 2,747 officers have expressed their intent to join the protest, local reports said.

Some of them will leave their investigative units to attend an all-night vigil in Cheongwon, North Chungcheong Province, on Friday, to discuss the situation and their course of action.

Another police office said: “The gathering will serve as the venue to show our firm stance against the revision, as well as to discuss the measures we can take down the road to nullify it.”

The national police force is resisting a revision to the presidential decree on the enforcement of the Criminal Procedure Act, announced Wednesday, which they claim would limit their rights to investigate independently of prosecutors.

Although the police agency still has rights to open and close internal investigations without direction from the prosecutors’ office, the modified version states that it must submit the evidence and reports to the prosecutors after the process is closed.

It also allows prosecutors to reopen some cases closed by police.

The Prime Minister’s Office defends the change, saying that the measures are aimed at protecting citizens’ rights. It hopes to win the Cabinet’s approval next month so that the new decree can go into effect early next year.

Park Jong-joon, the deputy chief of the National Police Agency, said they would mount an all-out campaign to amend a superior act in order to nullify the changes, should the presidential decree continue its course without further modification.

“We will make efforts to persuade the government to come up with a new, reasonable proposal. But if those efforts fail, we will then aim to amend the Criminal Procedure Act to introduce a more advanced system of criminal investigations,” he said on a radio program.

The police force is also considering sending a petition to the National Assembly, a repeat of June, when 3,899 active and retired officers and academics signed a petition.

By Robert Lee (robert@heraldcorp.com)