Corrupt ties with suspects

Police losing credibility due to negligence, incompetence

Police are increasingly losing the public's confidence due to their slipshod investigations of a series of criminal cases. They are under criticism for even having corrupt ties with criminal suspects. It is no wonder that their credibility is dropping.

The most recent case that is humiliating the police force is related to allegations that B.I., the former leader and songwriter of YG Entertainment boy band iKON, smoked marijuana and bought LSD in 2016. Officers never questioned B.I., even though a female trainee of the entertainment agency led by Yang Hyun-suk lent support to the allegations in a confession about her own drug use.

The company ended its contract with B.I., Wednesday, immediately after the trainee went public. Yang also resigned as chairman of YG Entertainment, Friday, after she wrote the "facts" on her social media account amid allegations that he used his police connections to cover up the drug scandals of his singers.

This is just one of many corruption allegations involving police, and it is hard to enumerate similar cases one by one. Police are "the" law enforcement agency whose mission is to ensure public safety and crack down on crime.

Citizens have nobody to rely on but police when they face danger or injustice. For public security and the realization of justice, officers have to rush to crime scenes faster than any others.

Unless police eliminate corrupt ties with criminal suspects, and conduct investigations in a fair and just way, the nation cannot be a democratic society where justice is respected as a primary virtue both in name and reality. If the current situation goes on, police will lose their voice in seeking to gain greater investigative authority that is independent of the all-powerful prosecution.