The Bamboo Union’s (竹聯幫) Ming-ren Division (明仁會) on March 7 held a high-profile banquet to show off its financial clout in what was a recruitment drive for the organized crime outfit. The event received significant media coverage, sending confusing messages to the public about social values, and making the work of law enforcers more difficult.
After the banquet, the National Police Agency cracked down on criminal activities with a special task force against organized crime and implemented “third-party policing” to root out suspected offenders.
The nature and activities of crime groups have changed. From aggressive debt collection, operating entertainment venues and involving themselves in land development projects, these groups have shifted their focus to large-scale fraud, cross-border money laundering, online gambling and the drug trade.
Cross-border crime is more lucrative and harder to detect, and gangs organize events to brazenly recruit members. Law enforcement needs to adapt to their methods.
Article 11 of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime says that countries “shall endeavor to ensure that any discretionary legal powers under its domestic law relating to the prosecution of [offenders] are exercised to maximize the effectiveness of law enforcement measures in respect of those offences.”
That is, crackdowns on gangsters need to hurt criminals to be effective.
Based on my research into organized crime, forcing criminals to work without pay would be a more threatening prospect than being imprisoned.
Even though Judicial Yuan Constitutional Interpretation No. 812 states that “forced labor” contravenes Article 8 of the Constitution on protecting personal freedom, it could be a feasible system if the principle of proportionality and the principle of explicit distinctions in the Constitution are adopted.
Legislation to reintroduce a system that is similar to “compulsory vocational training” should again be considered.
Telecommunications fraud and online gambling have become new sources of funding for organized crime. Only scientific and technological investigations can effectively cut the source of these financial flows.
However, Taiwan has no legal basis for such investigations to adhere to the UN convention so that it can take measures “for the use of other special investigative techniques, such as electronic or other forms of surveillance and undercover operations, by its competent authorities in its territory for the purpose of effectively combating organized crime.”
The Legislative Yuan should consider adding provisions to the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制條例) to allow the use of location tracking technology and source telecommunications surveillance.
Finally, in response to the high-profile and controversial Bamboo Union banquet, legislation should be adopted based on the principle of “administration first, then justice,” in which the use of language, actions or other methods can be interpreted as indicative of membership in a criminal organization.
That is, behaviors linked with criminal organizations or their members should be considered grounds to punish these arrogant offenders.
That would include gatherings of three or more people in public places at events such as spring banquets or funerals where a criminal organization is able to flaunt its influence and disturb public order, cause anxiety or fear among the public. It would also include failure to disband after authorities have ordered them do so on more than three occasions.
Hsu Fu-seng is a professor and director of Central Police University’s Department of Administration Police.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS