Establishment of school violence investigator… A total of 2,700 people deployed to education support offices nationwide

The government has decided to establish a new dedicated school violence investigator so that dedicated investigators, not teachers, will be in charge of investigating school violence issues, and will deploy approximately 2,700 people, 15 to each of the 177 educational support offices.

In addition, the number of dedicated school police officers will be increased by 105, and their role will be strengthened, including mandatory participation in the School Violence Response Review Committee.

On the 7th, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, and the National Police Agency announced a plan to improve the school violence incident handling system and strengthen the role of school police officers (SPOs).

This plan focuses on improving the overall school violence case handling system and increasing the trust of students and parents.

In addition, schools were freed from the heavy burden of dealing with school violence and focused on their original educational role, such as improving and restoring relationships between victims and perpetrators, guiding victims and perpetrators, and supporting victims.

In addition, in order to guarantee children’s right to learn in a safe environment, the role and function of school police officers (SPOs) were strengthened to increase the ability to respond to school violence.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Joo-ho is giving a briefing on ‘Measures to improve the system for handling school violence issues and strengthen the role of school police officers’ at the Seoul Government Complex on the 7th. (Photo: Ministry of Education)

Looking at this plan, first, the investigation into school violence issues will be entirely handled by investigators dedicated to school violence, not teachers. The plan is to establish a new investigator system dedicated to school violence so that investigators will be responsible for investigating school violence cases, which are currently handled by teachers.

Based on the investigator’s findings, the school will check whether the principal’s own resolution requirements are met and whether the victim student consents. If the requirements are met, the case is closed on its own and a program to restore relationships between the victim and the offender is operated.

If self-resolution requirements are not met or the victim does not agree to self-resolution, the investigator’s findings are reviewed through a school violence case conference (tentative name) at the School Violence Zero Center of the Office of Education, and then directly reported to the School Violence Countermeasures Review Committee. Request deliberation.

Investigators will be retired police officers or retired teachers with experience in school violence, life guidance, and investigations. They will perform the following roles: ▲investigating school violence issues, ▲reporting the results of the investigation at dedicated organizations and school violence case conferences, ▲sharing information with school police officers, and exchanging opinions on the case investigation.

In order to quickly respond, the government decided to deploy approximately 2,700 investigators, 15 to each of the 177 educational support offices, considering the current number of school violence cases (62,052 cases last year).

When investigators take full charge of investigating issues, schools and teachers can focus on victim protection and educational measures, such as educational functions such as self-resolution by the school principal, emergency measures for victims, interviewing and supporting victim students, and improving and restoring relationships between victims and perpetrators. .

Current and improvement plans for school violence occurrence/recognition system. (Table = Ministry of Education)

A new school violence case conference will be established to review and supplement the investigator’s investigation.

First, a school violence case conference will be established to review and supplement the investigators’ findings and improve the objectivity of the investigation.

The school violence case conference is established and operated within the Zero School Violence Center, which is being operated as part of the comprehensive plan to eradicate school violence established on April 12, and is conducted by investigators, school police officers, and lawyers, presided over by the director of the Zero School Violence Center. .

In the future, the investigators’ findings will be reviewed and supplemented to improve completeness and objectivity, and functions such as systematization and case studies will be performed through analysis of various school violence issues.

In order to strengthen the role of dedicated school police officers, the number of personnel will be increased by 105, equivalent to 10% of the current capacity of 1,022, to 1,127, and support will also be expanded.

The role of school police officers will be strengthened by adding new tasks in addition to the current tasks of preventing school violence, leading offenders, and protecting victims.

We organically cooperate with the newly established school violence investigators by sharing information on school violence cases in the district, and also attend school violence case conferences and serve as advisors to determine whether there are any areas that need to be supplemented with the investigators’ findings.

It is mandatory to be appointed to the Office of Education’s School Violence Response Review Committee, which also enhances the expertise and objectivity of deliberation.

The government announced that it will do its best to create orderly schools so that children can study in a safe environment, free from the threat of school violence that violates their basic right to a free and fair education, and to ensure that teachers have proper rights in schools.