The Judicial Reform Foundation and women and child welfare groups have criticized the Taipei City Police Department for leading a female social worker in handcuffs past media when she was brought in for questioning about the death of an infant that had allegedly been abused by a caregiver.
Police officials yesterday said that officers at the Wenshan Second Precinct had mishandled the situation on Tuesday, and had infringed on the rights of the social worker, surnamed Chen (陳).
Chen is a staff member at the Child Welfare League Foundation, which had temporarily placed the one-year-old boy in the home of a contracted caregiver surnamed Liu (劉) while it tried to find a family to adopt him. Liu has been accused of abusing the child to death.
Photo: CNA
Chen was allegedly responsible for making regular home visits to check on the health and welfare of the child, who had been placed with Liu in September last year. The infant allegedly died in December last year from fatal injuries as a result of abuse.
“After a review, it was determined that the use of handcuffs on Chen was not appropriate for her involvement in the incident,” the police department said in a news release.
The officer who had handcuffed her had violated her right to privacy and right not to face public scrutiny, as she was photographed by reporters when she was taken to the precinct to be questioned, it said.
The captain of police investigation section at the precinct would receive a reprimand, and the department would mandate training for all police officers to learn what should be done in similar situations, it said.
President-elect William Lai (賴清德) said he agreed with the rights advocates’ criticisms that the police and media unfairly treated Chen.
Social workers have a difficult and thankless job, which requires them to be on call all day and work long hours, while facing stress and taking blame from all sides, Lai said.
“In many cases, victims and family members pile blame on social workers, even though they had been diligent and put a lot of time into each case to help people,” he said.
“Society must protect the safety of all children, and punish those who abuse and neglect them. In addition to reforming the system, we must also protect the rights of and show respect for social workers, as they have tough jobs to do, and we cannot put all the blame on them. That would only discourage people from taking up those jobs,” he said.
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