This problem comes out in another fashion. Consider the following hypothetical: I am fairly high up in the Bamboo Union down in Chaiyi or Yulin County. I decide to turn state's evidence against the Bamboo Union, in particular against some very senior members on some very serious crimes. Now I have to ask myself, can I rely on the police to "protect" me while I wait to testify? Can I rely on them to protect me after I testify, having helped put some senior members of the Bamboo Union in prison? The questions are, in a sense, rhetorical. The answers are obvious.
The solution to this problem is not to have witness protection handled by a plethora of police agencies. In the United States the Witness Protection Program is handled by one agency and one agency only; the US Federal Marshals. For witness protection to be taken seriously here in Taiwan, it needs to be handled by one agency whose professionalism and integrity is extremely high, that is, a law enforcement agency like the US Marshals. Setting up a similar agency here in Taiwan would do two things. It would first provide a reasonable level of security for witnesses and secondly and more broadly it would be a good opportunity to establish a foothold for the advancement of professionalism in Taiwan's law enforcement community.
Brian Kennedy is a board member of Amnesty International Taiwan and the Taiwan Association of Human Rights.
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