Violent crime in Taipei has dropped 50 percent this year, Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said at a ceremony yesterday to celebrate the appointments of eight police precinct chiefs.
But critics say that the mayor's numbers simply don't add up.
There has "been a massive improvement in law and order in Taipei this year," Ma said.
According to government statistics, the mayor said, there were 499 violent crimes through July this year, down from 810 during the same period last year.
Furthermore, Ma said, "More than 60 percent of people in Taipei are satisfied with social order, according to a recent poll in June."
But DPP City Councilor Lo Tsung-sheng (
"Three serious shootings occurred in August alone. If the poll was conducted now, I am sure that the public perception of the police would be worse," he said.
Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元), New Party councilor, agreed. "Even if we don't count those people who don't have an opinion, more than 20 percent of the people are dissatisfied with the current situation," Lee said.
"Ma should listen to the real voice of the public and not just look at the statistics," Lee said.
Lo said that Ma's use of the crime numbers discounts the seriousness of theft and said that theft was a fundamental concern for Taipei residents.
"Violent crimes only account for a small proportion of the total number of crimes committed," Lo said.
"What annoys people most is that theft is still rampant," Lo added.
The total number of crimes reported last year was 48,819, of which roughly 31,000 were thefts.
Through July of this year, there have been 18,429 reports of theft, slightly higher than the 17,670 reports during the same period last year.
"[Instances of] police shelving cases are not uncommon and some victims don't report their cases because they feel the police are incapable of solving crimes of theft," Lee said. "The actual number of cases is probably much higher."
Yesterday's ceremony was held to mark the first personnel shift under the new director of the Taipei City police, Wang Cho-chun (
The former director, Wang Chin-wang (
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS