행정안전부 경찰국 및 지휘규칙에 대한 비판적 검토 및 개선방안 연구

Abstract

Since the enactment and enforcement of the Government Organization Act in 1948, “public security" has been the responsibility of the Minister of Interior(currently the Minister of Public Administration and Security). However, with the enactment of the Police Act in 1991, "public security" became the responsibility of the Commissioner of the National Police Agency, and important policies regarding police affairs must be deliberated and resolved by the National Police Commission in advance. Under the Government Organization Act, the Minister of Public Administration and Security may directly direct the Commissioner of the National Police Agency regarding the establishment of important policies of the National Police Agency. However, since the Government Organization Act is a general law and the Police Act is a special law, the Minister of Public Administration and Security must comply with the Police Act in accordance with the "Principle of Priority of the Special Act.” Under the Police Act, the Minister of Public Administration and Security is only authorized to refer important issues to the National Police Commission if necessary, or to require the commission to discuss them again if it deems the content of the deliberations and resolutions to be inappropriate. On August 2, 2022, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security amended the Presidential Decree to create the “Police Bureau”, and the Ministry of Public Administration and Security also enacted and implemented the Regulations on the Command of the Minister of Public Administration and Security. There has been a lot of criticism from police officials, politician, related organizations, and scholars about such measures. There are three main criticisms, which the government needs to address as soon as possible. First, there is nothing "unconstitutional" about the newly created the Police Bureau itself. However, the nature of the work performed by the police department is not a‘subsidiary organ (Line)’ that carries out its duties attached to the administrative authorities, but ‘assisting organs (Staff)’ that advice to the head of the agency through professional knowledge or technology so that the head of the agency can perform his duties more efficiently. Therefore, it is desirable to change the name of the newly office to 'Public order Policy Officer' or 'Public order Planning Officer', which means 'Staff'. Second, in accordance with the Command Rules, any important work of the police must be approved by the Minister of Public Administration and Security in advance.However, the "pre-approval authority" newly granted to the Minister of Public Administration and Security in Article 2 (1) of the Command Rules is not specifically delegated by the Police Act. Therefore, this provision is judged to be unconstitutional in violation of the Constitution's "Principle of Prohibition of Comprehensive Delegated Legislation". Therefore, it is appropriate to remove this provision as soon as possible. Third, there are concerns about 'impartiality' and 'political neutrality' for police officials in the future. In order to dispel this concern, it is particularly desirable to transfer the "procedure for promotion to the senior superintendent's rank from the chief superintendent" currently organized by the "Central Promotion Review Committee" of the National Police Agency to the "ordinary promotion review committee" of each police agency.