Taipei’s first “mobile police stations” (行動派出所) are to go on duty today.
The mobile police stations are minivans equipped with computers and other equipment enabling them to process crime reports, saving city residents a trip to a regular police station as was previously required.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said the five newly commissioned vehicles were just a start, with expansion possible depending upon the results of the city’s trial.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
“This is a test — so we did not purchase new vehicles for the experiment,” Ko said, adding that adjustments could be made if the vans’ ability to idle and provide air conditioning proved problematic.
As the vehicles are intended to provide additional service points, they are to carry folding tables and chairs to be set up outside the vehicle if there is insufficient interior space, he said, adding that setting up temporary tents was also a possibility.
Two of the five former police vans are to be deployed in the city’s Datong District (大同) to replace two community police stations, whose officers are to be transferred to nearby stations. The vans are to be stationed for fixed periods of time at several locations within their districts with a full itinerary published online.
Taipei Police Department division chief Huang Yi-san (黃益三) said the mobile police stations were designed to reassure city residents as the city merges smaller police stations to increase police patrols, adding that a typical police station only has one to two officers available to respond to calls, with others tied down by administrative responsibilities.
Merging two stations would free up half of the officers to engage in patrols, he said, adding that the mobile police stations could also participate in patrols when not handling paperwork.
Li Hsiu-nan (李秀男), warden of a borough in which one of the police stations scheduled to be closed is located, said he had concerns about the police’s ability to maintain visibility and service quality using the mobile stations, but “acquiesced” after the policy was finalized.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS