A New Taipei City police officer was killed by a car while performing patrol duties in the middle of last month. As it was recognized as “death while on duty,” the compensation for his family is NT$7 million (US$213,304) less than it would have been for a “death from performing duties.”
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators have expressed concern about the standard for “death while on duty.”
Given that police protect people regardless of political affiliation, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should also take the initiative to show concern over the issue.
The biggest problem lies in the definitions of police who die while on duty and those who die from performing duties, because the distinction affects how much compensation the families receive.
For a police officer who dies on duty, compensation for the family is 180 months of salary, while for an officer who dies from performing duties, compensation is up to 240 months of salary. This is a huge difference.
Without follow-up media reports, people are likely to forget this issue quickly, but the family of the deceased officer must go on after losing their major means of financial support.
The issue of the disparity in compensation has been around for a long time. When a situation like what happened last month arises, it generates public anger, while politicians raise a hue and cry to seek greater compensation for the family to attract votes.
However, the issue is forgotten soon after the storm passes.
Due to close media attention, National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said that the rules allow compensation of up to NT$20 million and that the agency is seeking to amend the regulations to raise the maximum so that the family of a police officer who dies while on duty would be eligible for up to NT$30 million.
The NPA said that it has submitted a draft amendment to the Ministry of the Interior and the Cabinet is reviewing it.
The media should pay attention to the situation to ensure that the NPA revises the rules to make them fairer. That would ensure that families of police officers who die while on duty can continue to live normally and their children are able to receive an education and grow up healthy.
Knight Chang is a political worker.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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