Officers' mental health called into question

"It may be that [the fact] inspectors played the role previously now makes police officers uncertain so they feel that talking about their troubles is a risk to their careers," Shen said.

Another question about the Teacher Kuan system is the professionalism of the "teachers." Most are just police cadres who have been selected according to some loose criteria; that is to say, friendliness or those who are willing to help others. Before they begin, few have had any formal training in psychological counseling.

To supplement the Teacher Kuans, the NPA introduced outside mental counseling to the force two years ago.

"Police station-level units must actively invite in local social resources such as social work agencies, psychiatric departments of hospitals and so forth," a counseling subdivision official said.

"Having in hand the information provided by these non-police, voluntary counselors, police officers who feel in need of help can simply go to them without going through their superiors."

The effectiveness of this new approach is still hard to evaluate and some counselors say they are never called on.

Shen doubted the effectiveness of the approach.

"We just passively receive people who think they have problems. But people who are mentally disturbed are not necessarily aware of it, nor would they necessarily come to us seeking assistance," he said.

"Education in everyday life is crucial."

Police forces currently include lectures about mental health in their regular education and training programs that are normally held every three months. The Taipei Peace Preservation Corps, for example, invites lecturers from the well-known non-official Teacher Chang Youth Counseling Center (張老師).

Fang Yi-hui (方逸蕙), a mental health counselor from the center, said superiors and colleagues should pay more attention to their fellow police officers. "So if someone appears to be abnormal, his supervisor could adjust his job or ask him to go to mental counseling," Fang said.

Fang suggests that the work of mental health counseling of police be contracted to professional and non-official units to ensure professionalism.

Shen, on the other hand, suggests that police officers periodically take compulsory mental condition examinations, perhaps, once a year.

"Because mental health conditions do vary from time to time, the passing of a mental health examination before graduating from a police institute or university does not guarantee one will always do well in the future."