For most who go through the academy, they say, English goes in one ear and out the other.
"They learn it to get in, and then they never use it again," says Lu.
Central Police University, however, maintains that English is more than just an add-on to the curriculum. Spokeswoman Emily Wu says the school must produce officers who are on a par with the island's other college graduates.
"If we don't teach English, the curriculum we offer won't be comparable to that of other universities in Taiwan," she says.
Wu also says English is necessary for advanced police training. "Some investigative procedures, such as DNA testing, are largely written about in English," she says. "So if officers don't know English, they can't stay up to date on the latest techniques."
But on the street, English falls by the wayside for many cops. In cases involving foreigners, English is not overly important because the foreign affairs police are almost invariably called upon. In Taipei, that unit's 128 members generally have a high proficiency in English, but do not necessarily receive much in benefits of higher rank or pay on account of their linguistic skills.
Lin notes that when he was on traffic duty, he learned certain useful English phrases on his own time, not through police training. To this day, he can still pronounce, "license," "ID card," and "registration" beautifully. Even so, he has never given a foreigner a ticket.
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