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Better laws needed to get better policing

`The public's distrust of the police has increased to the extent they are no long surprised when the police break the rules.'

Last December the Council of Grand Justices ruled in Inter-pretation No. 535 of the Consti-tution that the law "does not authorize police officers to conduct random checks or raids without regard for time, location and object." But regulations governing police behavior are incomplete and require revision in line with the interpretation.

Although the Ministry of the Interior recently proposed a draft "police duties execution law" to the Executive Yuan, some of the articles were strongly suspected by the review committee to sanction violations of human rights and the Constitution. The media has criticized the the ministry for its poor decision-making. But the police continue to conduct large-scale spot checks and raids on pubs and clubs, rounding up all the customers and taking them back to police stations for compulsory urine tests. Some prosecutors have strongly disagreed with these tactics.

According to statistics from the Judicial Reform Foundation (民間司法改革基金會), about 60 cases of police misconduct were uncovered by the media between January and April of this year -- almost one case every two days. But many cases do not come to light, so the real figure could well be much higher. The public's distrust of the police has increased to the extent they are no long surprised when the police break the rules. When crimes committed by the police stop making news, that will be the death of the police. Who can help our police force reform?

The public mistrusts the system of policing and the officers themselves. Their tactics -- such as spot checks or raids, spying and using informants -- have become methods that encourage them to break the law. Lax regulation and administration mean that the police are forced to break the law to reach performance targets and conform to a vicious police culture.

The proposed law is aimed at preventing the police from violating people's rights. The bill would give police clear guidelines to follow. This will ensure that they avoid breaking the law unintentionally and release them from their current dilemma. The urgent need for such legislation is obvious.

The Cabinet has sent the draft bill back to the ministry for revision, but not because it fails to recognize the need for the legislation. On the contrary, the Cabinet is pressing the police to eliminate their bad habits of departmentalism and seeks to legitimize long-standing, inappropriate and controversial police tactics. It's time to change police practice now in response to the public's demand for procedural justice.

By acting within the law and upholding human rights, police will also protect themselves. What's worrying, however, is not that the ministry was unable to come up with regulations that conform with current trends, but that if the careless attitude of the police continues, the law will be ineffective no matter how good it is.

Lo Ping-cheng is a lawyer and an executive member of the Judicial Reform Foundation.

TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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