The incidence of violent crime in New Taipei City has receded, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said on Tuesday, after he was accused of mismanaging the city’s police force, resulting in police officers injuring a bystander they mistook for a fugitive.
On Sept. 20, four police officers erroneously arrested a man surnamed Huang (黃) in the city’s Sanchong District (三重) following an altercation, causing injuries that required hospital treatment. Both parties involved have pressed assault charges.
The New Taipei City Police Department’s Sanchong Precinct has issued a public apology to Huang after suspending the officers, with the adjudication for the rivaling lawsuits scheduled to begin next week.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Huang yesterday testified about his arrest to Control Yuan member Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻), a former mayor of then-Sanchong township who is heading the agency’s probe.
Speaking at a news conference outside the Control Yuan, Huang said video evidence showed plainclothes officers assaulting him without identifying themselves while uniformed officers looked on.
One of the officers put a knee on Huang’s throat and continued to strike him in the head after he had been handcuffed, showing a severe lapse of discipline, New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said.
Police officers involved in the incident have broken the law, and their filing of charges of obstruction and assault against the victim proved their apologies were not sincere, he said.
The officers should be censured by the Control Yuan and held accountable for their actions in court, he added.
Separately, Hou told reporters that the city’s violent crime rate last year receded and that the jurisdiction leads Taiwan’s special municipalities in crime prevention programs and clearance rates.
The city’s police force was recognized by the National Police Agency’s annual Outstanding Performance Award, he added.
Hou was a police officer before becoming a politician and police reform has been a top priority during his tenure as mayor, he said.
He felt insulted by the accusations, Hou said.
Earlier that day, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan that Hou has been eager to take credit for positive developments in policing, but disappears from public sight whenever scandals occur.
Besides the Sanchong incident, a shooting at a pawn shop in Banciao District (板橋) last month and the death of a boy from COVID-19, allegedly due to delays in the city’s emergency medical service, show severe lapses in leadership, he said.
“Hou’s favorite response to problems is that critics should not burden officers doing their jobs on the front line, which serves as an excuse for not addressing real issues,” Lo said.
The proportionality principle was not observed in the Sanchong incident, Economic Democracy Union convener and lawyer Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said, adding that the measures taken by the officers were excessive, regardless of whether the person being arrested was a fugitive.
Additional reporting by Wu Su-wei
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by