Lawmakers urge training for police

Police officers should get more training on conducting searches following a ruling by the Council of Grand Justices, DPP legislators said yesterday.

"It seems to me that the situation has become worse after the ruling since many people do not really understand the law," DPP legislator Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said. "It also seems to me that our officers need more education about the law."

Lai was commenting after an incident in Tainan City in which police released a group of youths they suspected of damaging vehicles after the youths claimed the police were searching them illegally.

Lai said that more than 20 youths on motor scooters used metal bars to damage at least 30 vehicles parked near the fire department in Tainan City on Monday night. They also damaged two fire trucks and one fire department ambulance, he said.

Witnesses informed the police, who immediately set up roadblocks nearby. The police stopped a group of youths they suspected of damaging the vehicles and checked their identification.

But the youths argued with the police that the officers had no right to stop them without a warrant or good reason, in accordance with a ruling last Friday by the grand justices on article 535 of the Constitution. The police then let them go.

"Obviously our officers on the roads did not fully understand the content and details of grand justices' explanation," Lai said.

"I believe that the original motivation of the grand justices' interpretation was to protect human rights and make their job easier.

"The National Police Administration should explain the article [of the Constitution] to all officers so they can do their jobs properly. A lot of people don't understand that the police cannot search them [at will]."

The ruling was made in response to complaints about police raiding hotels and bars as part of a crackdown on the sex industry.

Another DPP legislator, Tang Jinn-chuan (湯金全), said that the police should not be afraid of challenges, especially when they are enforcing the law on the streets.

"According to the grand justices' explanation," Tang said, "the police can search people when other people are in danger.

"Obviously, this kind of reckless riding endangers other people. Plus, these gangsters damaged other people's property. So they should definitely be regarded as criminals at the scene and arrested. There is no question about it.

"Unfortunately, our officers did not really understand that as far as I can see."

In response to legislators' requests, the National Police Administration said that new procedures for police searches have been released and officers will keep on strictly enforcing the law according to regulations as interpreted by the court.

"The National Police Administration will organize more seminars to educate our police officers about the grand justices' ruling," said Liu Chen-an (劉振安), senior officer of the Traffic Section of the National Police Administration.