Police stop and question is the important authority for police officers to prevent crimes and arrest suspects. Police duties performance Act in korea states that a police officer can stop and question someone if the officer have probable cause to beli...
Police stop and question is the important authority for police officers to prevent crimes and arrest suspects. Police duties performance Act in korea states that a police officer can stop and question someone if the officer have probable cause to believe that a person has committed the crime or is intending to commit crime under surrounding circumstances. In recently, some people are likely to refuse to police officer’s request to stop and question. So, Police National Agency and some scholars have suggested that “stop and identify statutes” should be amended in Police duties performance Act in korea. “Stop and identify statutes” is law that authorize for police officers to request and obtain the identification of someone whom they reasonably suspect has committed a crime. However, it has been criticized to pose a potential danger to invade the individual rights such as privacy and the right to remain silent guaranteed by Korean Constitutional Law. This study examined foreign countries‘ laws related to stop and identify. Most major countries have enacted “stop and identify” statutes. For example, some states of United States have “Stop and identify laws that allow police to detain persons and request such persons to identify themselves, and arrest them if they refuse to identify themselves. Especially, Germany, France and Twain have the law permitting for police officers to request one’s identification card in case of emergency situations regardless of committing crime. In conclusion, Korean Police should try to recover people’s trust by obeying the due process of stop and question. Also, it is necessary to introduce “stop andidentify” statutes with systems to prevent people’s individual rights.