Police confiscated 38% delayed registration...Strengthen security such as fingerprint entry and exit

Amid a recent series of cases in which front-line police officers stole seized cash, the National Police Agency has completed a full investigation of the confiscated items and has begun to come up with measures.

The National Police Agency said today (7th) that it has confirmed five cases of violating procedures, including the loss of seized items, after conducting a full investigation on the status of evidence management from the 18th to the 25th of last month.

Although no crimes, including embezzlement, have been confirmed, registration of 32,300 cases, 38.5% of the total investigation targets, has been delayed for more than a week after the seizure, and there have been cases where cash is counted by hand because there is no cash counter, and the amount of the seizure has been incorrectly written down.

The National Police Agency decided to come up with improvement measures, such as inspecting and investigating violations of the procedure and upgrading the existing confiscation management guidelines to instructions.

First of all, we plan to install fingerprint-recognition access controls and motion-detecting CCTVs in the evidence storage room, and to strengthen security by allowing only the manager and the investigation support team leader to enter the storage room.

In addition, as hundreds of millions of won worth of cash was recently siphoned off by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Department, large-scale cash will be kept in a dedicated account in the future, and cross-checks by government offices will be conducted semi-annually in addition to existing monthly and quarterly inspections.

An official from the National Police Agency said, "I'm sorry for causing concern and anxiety to the public, and there is a rebuke to whether the barn is fixed after losing the cow, but I will fix the barn even if I missed it."