A female detective assistant with the Taichung Police Department’s Second Precinct was detained on Tuesday night after repeatedly posting threatening remarks on social media platforms and in online groups, the Taichung District Court said.
The officer, surnamed Huang (黃), allegedly issued multiple explicit and violent written threats against specific people, including Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), within a short period, at a time of heightened social sensitivity, after a man went on a stabbing spree in Taipei on Friday last week, killing three and injuring at least 11, it said.
Taichung’s Second Precinct yesterday said that Huang has been suspended from duty, effective immediately, and it plans to record two major demerits and dismiss her from service.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government
The alleged remarks began on a Line group of her police colleagues on Friday last week, the day of the attack, the court said.
“Guess who will get shot in the head,” and “I wonder who can shoot someone dead with one shot,” she allegedly wrote.
She later commented on a post on social media platform Threads regarding copycat crimes, in which she directly named Lu in threats involving shooting, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they immediately ordered her arrest and applied for her detention, which the court approved.
The court said that as Huang is a police officer and is familiar with using firearms, it could not rule out the possibility that she might carry out on her threats and deemed it necessary to detain her.
Huang is suspected of offenses including endangering public safety, it added.
Even after her arrest, she continued to express strong dissatisfaction with Taichung’s construction projects and people she threatened, and was therefore deemed to have a high risk of reoffending, the court said.
Huang posted the threatening remarks closely after last week’s incident in Taipei, causing fear and panic among those who reported her, city government personnel and the public, it added.
The timing of her remarks could also encourage copycat actors with malicious intent, it said.
Huang’s mobile phone has been seized by prosecutors, and all threatening remarks have been preserved via screenshots, it said.
She has not been held incommunicado and is to be allowed visits and correspondence, as the risk of collusion has been reduced and evidence gathered, it said.
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