Gyeonggi Province Autonomous Police System Blueprint Released…Two Autonomous Police Offices in South and North

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hoon Reporter] With the autonomous police system being implemented this year, a blueprint for Gyeonggi Province's autonomous police system, composed of one Gyeonggi Provincial Police Commission and two autonomous police offices, has been unveiled.

The Gyeonggi Research Institute, through a "Basic Concept Research on the Introduction of Gyeonggi Province-Style Autonomous Police System," has prepared policy alternatives for organizational and personnel design of autonomous police commissions and methods to link police autonomy with general local autonomy for the implementation of the autonomous police system in Gyeonggi Province.

The autonomous police system is a system in which public safety duties are autonomously performed based on the will of local residents. Most countries implementing local autonomy systems have adopted autonomous police systems, thereby strengthening regional security competitiveness according to local characteristics, implementing public-private cooperation through citizen participation, and achieving synergy effects through linkage between police autonomy and general local autonomy.

South Korea, which has been working to introduce an autonomous police system for over 30 years, passed the "Law on the Organization and Operation of National Police and Autonomous Police" (hereinafter "Police Act") through the National Assembly on December 9 last year, and is now taking its first steps.

The Police Act classifies autonomous police affairs into national police affairs and autonomous police affairs, with autonomous police affairs including community safety, traffic, security, and investigation.

Based on analysis of public safety administration demand in Gyeonggi Province's autonomous police sector using materials from Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency and Northern Police Agency websites, the Gyeonggi Research Institute found that Gyeonggi Province's population is approximately 13.5 million (as of December 2020), which is one-quarter of the national population, with annual incident occurrence reaching 400,000 cases, showing high absolute volume of security demand.

The jurisdiction area is 10,175 square kilometers, with 39 incidents occurring per square kilometer annually.

Violent crimes such as murder and rape are similar to the national average, while violent crimes are 1% higher than the national average, and traffic crimes are increasing, particularly in areas under development such as Pyeongtaek, Yongin, and Namyangju.

Meanwhile, during 2016-2019, nationwide demonstrations increased 1.7 times, while Gyeonggi Province saw a 2.3 times increase during the same period.

Based on Gyeonggi Province's public safety administration demand, the Gyeonggi Research Institute designed the organization and personnel of the Gyeonggi Province Autonomous Police Commission. This includes one Gyeonggi Province Police Commission (7 members) and two autonomous police offices (draft).

Five divisions (Strategic Planning Division, Policy Evaluation Division, Police Affairs and Personnel Division, Audit Division, and Operations Support Division) will be established in the autonomous police office and installed in each of the Gyeonggi Southern and Northern Police Agencies.

The office will be staffed with a total of 190 personnel, including two office directors (Grade 2), with 120 assigned to Gyeonggi South and 70 to Gyeonggi North.

Recognizing that establishing coordination methods between public safety administration and local administration is important for the settlement and effectiveness of the autonomous police system, the report proposes the following:

First, as methods to coordinate public safety administration and special police, it proposed establishing an information sharing system, strengthening administrative cooperation processing, personnel exchange, conducting joint education and training, and implementing joint crackdowns by autonomous police and special police.

As methods to coordinate public safety administration and local administration, cooperation between autonomous police and disaster management, cooperation between autonomous police and health and welfare, and cooperation methods between autonomous police and education were proposed.

Cho Sung-ho, senior research fellow at the Gyeonggi Research Institute, stated that "establishment and implementation of plans in organization, legislation, and budget sectors are essential for promoting Gyeonggi Province's autonomous police system," and advised that the following are necessary: ▲Establishment of 'Gyeonggi Province Autonomous Police System Implementation Preparation Team' and 'Autonomous Police Promotion Advisory Committee' ▲Enactment of 'Ordinance on the Establishment and Operation of Gyeonggi Province's Autonomous Police System' ▲Establishment of 'Financial Measures for Autonomous Police System Operation' ▲Establishment of 'Long-term Vision and Strategy for Autonomous Police System'.

More detailed report contents can be found on the Gyeonggi Research Institute's website.