Young Police Officers Have Cynical Attitude Towards Police Organizations: Survey

A commencement ceremony takes place at the Central Police Academy in Chungju, 147 kilometers south of Seoul, on May 6, 2022. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, July 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Complaints about unfair operations and the interruption of internal communications within police forces are rampant among police officers in their 20s and 30s, a survey showed Sunday.

The Korean National Police University’s Police Science Institute recently conducted a survey of 1,131 newly-appointed police officers.

In response to a question saying that important work assignments within police organizations are associated more with personal connections than work performance, 49.4 percent of the respondents agreed, higher than the 14.9 percent who said no.

The respondents are police officers who have entered their sixth year of service after joining the Central Police Academy in 2017. Most are police constables (24 percent) and corporals (74 percent).

Those in their 20s and 30s account for 46.3 percent and 53 percent, respectively, of the total.

In response to a question saying that good opinions for organizational change are not reflected well, 42 percent of the respondents agreed, while only 14.2 percent said no.

Another 42.2 percent of the respondents assessed that police leaders are not passionate, while 36.2 percent of the respondents noted that the future of police organizations is not bright.

Moreover, the survey showed that young police officers look for horizontal and two-way communications within police organizations.

Three-quarters of the respondents didn’t agree with a question saying that low-ranking officers shouldn’t oppose high-ranking officers, while 80.4 percent didn’t agree with a question saying that upper-ranking officers shouldn’t frequently ask for opinions from lower-ranking officers.

J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)