DPP lawmaker Chiu Yeong-jen (
Regarding the death of a police officer on Wednesday night, Chiu said that the authorities should face the serious problem of the manpower shortage at local police stations -- especially in suburban areas, since it could be the reason for the tragedy.
Yu Chien-hua (
"We are so sorry to lose Yu. But this case also raises the fact that we do not have enough officers. Why wasn't Yu backed up when he was on duty? Believe it or not, there were only seven officers at Mayuan police station. Now that Yu is gone, there are only six. But they have to serve 5,100 local residents," Chiu said. "According to the National Police Administration's statistics, for example, an officer will serve 313 residents on average in Taipei City. Obviously, we need more manpower at local police stations."
The National Police Administration's Human Resources Director Chuang Ching-hsian (
He said that the distribution of police forces to local police stations depends on a number of factors other than population.
The NPA also considers the size of the district, the total amount of registered vehicles and the local crime rate when it assigns and distributes police officers to local stations or districts.
"But local governments have told us that they cannot afford these officers' salaries," Chuang said.
"As a result, since last year, we've decided to assign officers from our first, fourth and fifth Peace Preservation Police Corps to fit the needs of local stations."
According to Chuang, since last year, the National Police Administration has relocated 8,650 officers from these three Peace Preservation Police Corps to local stations as back-up forces.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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