Purpose for the adoption of the private investigation business is to legalize and to cultivate the private investigation work that is otherwise carried out illegally at the errand centers and so forth, so that it can play the role of supporting police...
Purpose for the adoption of the private investigation business is to legalize and to cultivate the private investigation work that is otherwise carried out illegally at the errand centers and so forth, so that it can play the role of supporting police investigation. With this purpose in mind, this research conducted a study, targeting the citizens, police and private security officer.
The results of the study are as follows. First, the study demonstrates that the entities of authority and obligation should be set as corporation from the legal and system level elements, and that the method for starting private investigation business should be approval based system like the 「Security Guard Law」 while the supervising institution should be the National Police Agency.
Over 66% of the research subjects agreed to the introduction of private investigation business, and diverse reactions are demonstrated in terms of the work scope since each group has different interests.
From the citizens’ viewpoint, this is a double edged issue; they agree since this would increase their right since they can benefit from quality security service, but at the same time, they fear infringement upon their privacy due to the vitalization of the private investigation.
In case of the police, it agrees with the introduction of the private investigation business since this could be an option when it comes to the job that its members can take after retirement, and since this business supports their own work.
In case of the private security officers, they tend to view the private investigation work as infringing upon their own work since it can be considered a part of the private security work.
Accordingly, given that the citizens are the ones that should be factored in foremost when it comes to the introduction of the private investigation business, coming up with a system level measure to minimize infringement upon their private life is a realistic challenge.
Second, when perceived from the Human Resource management element, most opinioned that the age of the private investigation officers among the qualifications should be at least 18 years old. In particular, from the citizens’ viewpoint, higher qualifications should be required of private investigation officers compared to the private security officer since there is a concern for the infringement of personal life. As for the experience, those with criminal record should be excluded as in the case of Japan.
When perceived from the process in which private investigation officers take on e practical. When experienced police or private security officer takes the test, they should take the 1st written test while they should be waived of the 2nd practical test. Moreover, specialized education institution should be established in relation to the training of private investigation officers, and the training hours should be at least 44 hours which is like that of the security guide instructor. Disciplinary actions against private investigation officers should be taken care of by higher supervising institutions or independent institutions than having internal authority group when it comes to the right to exercise disciplinary actions.
Third, when perceived from the external environmental element, private security officers and citizens think that because the police lack the means to conduct investigation and because errand center and inquiry agency engage in illegal activities, introduction of private investigation business is urgently called for. Along with this, the society today is filled with accidents that cannot be solved without specialized knowledge, while it is not easy for the police to solve these accidents alone without the help of the experts. From this aspect, the need and importance of private investigation business are being raised. Moreover, after the OECD agreement was signed in 1997, foreign private investigation businesses are actively entering Korea, and they are active. Thus, it is necessary to vitalize the korean private investigation business to enable it to survive against the competition with the foreign private investigation business. Likewise, the study shows that all types of measures need to be developed.
As for the scope of private investigation business, it is possible to limit the work scope to the personal realm, eventually moving onto the official domain incrementally due to the nature of Korea that upholds human rights protection. Accordingly, private investigation business’ work scope can be set to; ① identifying the damage to the client such as infringement upon right, and conducting basic facts on the root causes, ② finding family members who run away or who are lost ③ and finding lost goods.
As for the measures for introducing private investigation business to Korea, measures for enacting single 「Private Investigation Business Law」 should be developed, and clause 2 of the existing 「Security Guard Law」 could be carried out to add on the private investigation business as a part of the Security Guard Law. Moreover, clause 2 of the 7 of the existing 「Security Guard Law Enforcement Ordinance」 could be considered as private investigation business can be operated by the entities of security guard.
The above mentioned three options can be considered. Given the reality in which the Ministry of Law and other supervising departments are in dispute, it is necessary to revise the Security Guard Law to introduce private investigation business so that the National Police Agency can be the supervising authority. Since a stand-alone law is enacted, there is a good chance that the dispute on determining which will serve as the supervising institution may rise. When Security Guard Law is revised, National Police Agency is already defined as the supervising authority, which can soothe the dispute on the supervising authority.
If so, private security business from the civilian aspect will be for preventing crime and private investigation business will be in charge of investigating crime. Thus, the name of the law should be changed to 「Privatization of Police Service Law」.