경찰관 법정증언의 실태와 개선방안

Police officers’ testimony in court is expected to increase drastically due to enforcement of trial-oriented court proceeding, expanded implementation of court proceedings with laymen’s participation, introduction of investigators’ testimony system, etc. Under such circumstances, status of court testimony by police officers could be identified through a questionnaire survey conducted with police officers in the national police agency, where several problems were exposed as well. First, police officers did not have sufficient experience in the court testimony,and task burdens by police were expected to increase with an increase in the court testimony. Also lack of systematic instruction on the court testimony was also revealed as a problem, while no unified measures were shown to be available on recollection of memories related to the incident for a testimony. As improvement measures to resolve these problems,First, specialized instructions in relation to the court testimony were suggested to be implemented. It was emphasized that broad and systematic instructions should be directed to basic matters such as preparation for the court testimony, anticipated questions, required testimonial techniques, methods of memory recollection, legal knowledge such as perjury, etc. For instruction method, it was pointed out not be limited to one-time training but needs to be on a constant and regular basis taking into account such things as personnel transfer, recruitment of new officers, changes in regulations, etc. Secondly, needs for systematically managing police officers’ court testimony were discussed, with a statement that designation of a devoted department, provision of legal services through operation of specialized counselors, etc. were needed. Thirdly, it was suggested that police officers’ task loads were to be reduced through prior task discussions with the court and the prosecutors’ office having direct relations with police officers’ court testimony and that matters required for smooth testimony should be adjusted.