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Taipei City police censured for pub investment plan

"This [discovery] shows that the police department has poorly supervised its officers and is in dereliction of its duty."

Kuo Shih-chi, Control Yuan member

The Control Yuan yesterday censured the Taipei City police department for flawed supervision and dereliction of duty which, it said, had enabled police officers from Taipei City's Chungshan Precinct to invest in a city nightclub where the drug Ecstasy was sold and to give the club advance warning of police raids.

In a separate report, the Control Yuan criticized police performance management systems, saying they had failed to ensure fairness and objectivity.

In announcing the censure of Taipei's police department, Kuo Shih-chi (郭石吉), the Control Yuan member who led the probe, said that evidence indicated that some police officers had invested in the Face nightclub (天使舞場) on Linsen North Road, in which Ecstasy was sold.

The officers notified the club's employees whenever their colleagues were planning to raid the club to search for Ecstasy, Kuo said, helping the club's staff to hide evidence of drug dealing and drug use.

"This shows that the police department has poorly supervised its officers and is in dereliction of its duty," he said.

However, the report will not be made public for some time.

The case came to light last July when eight police officers were suspected of corruption and obstruction of police affairs to search the club during a crackdown on Ecstasy launched by the National Police Administration in May last year.

The eight officers are still under investigation by prosecutors. Forensic analysis of hair samples from the eight last August showed that one of them had taken Ecstasy.

Kuo told reporters yesterday that the report would be released after prosecutors have issued the indictments.

Members of the Control Yuan task force will keep an eye on the case and plans to impeach any police officers involved with the sale or use of illegal drugs, he said.

He said, "Undesirable habits among police forces are not easily changed within a short period of time."

He suggested that it would be more appropriate for an external Ministry of Justice team to investigate police conduct rather than leaving the job to senior police officers, who are currently responsible for such matters.

A censured organization is required to notify the Control Yuan of the changes it plans to implement to rectify the situation for which it has been censured.

Also yesterday, after a year-long investigation, the Control Yuan released a report on police performance management systems.

The report says the performance evaluation process is led by senior officers and does not allow officers below a certain rank to participate in their own evaluations. As a result, the report says, feelings of dissatisfaction and unfairness are common among rank-and-file officers.

It adds that the organizational culture within the police force encourages officers to pursue cases that can be easily solved to improve performance ratings, and that most officers put little effort into basic but crucial work, such as crime prevention.

The report will be sent to the Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for the evaluation system.
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