A police cadet standing to the left in a photograph has the muzzle of a handgun in his mouth, while a classmate standing next to him, in full uniform and smiling, levels a second handgun at the cadet's temple.
Other grainy photographs show similarly disturbing scenes of what Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Lien-fu (
"I received the pictures as a file attached to an anonymous e-mail from a Taipei police academy and I was just appalled," Chiang told the Taipei Times after displaying the photographs at a press conference in the legislature on Friday.
The file contained 30 photographs of cadets playing with guns by pointing them at one another, at a salamander and at other random targets.
Other pictures showed cadets viewing pornography in class and drinking alcohol in their dormitories, he said.
"My goal in holding such a press conference was to urge the National Police Agency to better educate our police and investigate why such breaches in discipline are occurring," Chiang said by telephone yesterday.
Responding to Chiang's allegations that police cadets are poorly trained, Taiwan Police College training director Chen Hung (
But, Chen added, it is possible that cadets horse around with guns and take photos when instructors are not present.
"We will enforce discipline," Chen said.
Even if the firearms shown in the photos are merely pellet guns, the cadets' actions reveal a disturbing lack of discipline in handling sidearms and are indicative of a severe lack of gun training among police officers nationwide, Chiang said.
He cited two separate cases last week in Tainan in which officers lost their guns to dangerous criminals because of poor judgment, saying the photos were part of a disturbing trend.
In one case, two suspects in a high-speed police chase crashed their vehicle into a median. In the ensuing struggle with police, one suspect snatched a policeman's gun and used it to shoot at the officer after the officer had approached the smashed vehicle.
Although the police officer managed to escape injury, the armed suspect also shot at a passing driver in an attempt to hijack a vehicle.
The injured driver swerved off the road into a ditch and was killed.
The suspects succeeded in hijacking a different vehicle and escaped. Police nabbed one of the suspects on Tuesday, but not before arresting the wrong person first -- a mentally challenged Tainan man -- and releasing him after apologizing to him and his family.
"The pictures are just one of many examples of how too many police officers just don't know how to handle their sidearms," Chiang said.
Taiwanese police are notorious for their poor firearms training and tendency to be trigger happy, he added.
In February last year, a gunshot fired by a policeman in Tainan missed a suspect and killed a 14-year-old girl who was watching the dramatic scene unfold from approximately 70m away.
Last September, a wild car chase in Taipei ended when police fired off more than 50 rounds at a fleeing suspect's vehicle, riddling the suspect, who was wanted for burglary, with fatal gunshot wounds.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated