경찰공무원 복무선서 개선방안 연구

Under the current National Public Officials Act, Police officers belong to 'specific public officials' along with judges, prosecutors, soldiers, and National Intelligence Service employees. Since the duties of the ‘specific public official’ are special, it is necessary to recognize the specificity in the qualifications and regulations necessary for them. Therefore, 'specific public officials' are different from 'general public officials' who are in charge of research, technology and general administration, and the specially designed individual laws are applied first. In particular, Police officers wear uniforms and weapons and exercise physical force, and police rights are mainly ordered and power-forced, so there has been the concerns about human rights violations all the time. Therefore, Police authority should be exercised at least in the minimum necessity for the performance of its duties and should not be abused. In this way, Police officers who are 'specific public officials' have special characteristics of the job different from 'general public officials' in terms of their status, duties, working conditions and accountability. However, despite the fact that police officers are 'specific public officials', the contents of 'service oath' have been the same as 'general public officials' for the past 37 years. In contrast, judges, prosecutors, soldiers, and National Intelligence Service employees, who are other specific public officials, have already enacted and implemented their own separate service that matches the characteristics of the agency's duties several years ago. Terms that match the characteristics of the job are also used in the oath of foreign police such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Meanwhile, the Criminal Procedure Act was revised in the February 2020, and the judicial police officer became the subject of the investigation with the right to terminate the primary investigation from the status 'auxiliary agency' of the prosecutor. Therefore, today, Korean police are in a historical transition period to provide a level of security to the people, which is higher than before, in line with the status of the organization that has changed legally and realistically. In order for the Korean police to transform into the organization that is trusted by the people, various legal and institutional innovation measures should be actively explored and promoted. Also, symbolic improval measures are required to raise the ethical consciousness of police officers. In this context, this study reviewed the necessity of greatly improving the current police officer' oath' and sought an alternative. The new police officer' Service oath' should fully reflect the core values and the needs of the people that Korean police should pursue today. The core value of the police is included in the related laws such as the Police Officer Service Regulations, the Police Agency Crime Investigation Regulations, and the Police Charter and the Human Rights Police Commitment. Therefore, it is desirable to consider the above laws and refer to the contents of oath of foreign police such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. In addition, in the process of promoting the new police officer' ’service oath', it is strongly recommended to review the related laws and consult with experts on its own drafts, and finally to secure procedural legitimacy through public hearings. The Korean National Police Agency is suggested to continue to promote legal and institutional innovation measures that can renew the status of the Korean police, but most of all, it is expected to actively seek ways to dramatically improve the contents of the current police officer' oath'.