Making sure that the National Police Administration (NPA) has 100 percent authority over its personnel affairs has become newly assigned Director-General Chang Si-liang's (
Chang, the nation's top-ranking police officer, said at his inauguration that inspiring the country's 70,000 police officers is a must-do. To begin with, making sure that officers get proper promotion regularly is the first step to encourage them.
"We must let them [police officers] know that everybody will have the chance to become director-general of the NPA if he works hard. It is a fair game," Chang said.
"Think about this. If you know that you are working hard for something, won't you work harder to achieve it?"
For the past two weeks, Chang was busy working on a promotion list of the posts for high-ranking police officers.
According to his proposed arrangement, Kaohsiung City Police Department Commissioner Hung Sheng-kun will be promoted as a deputy director-general of the NPA; NPA Secretary-General Hsieh Hsiu-neng (謝秀能) will succeed Hung to take care of Kaohsiung City's public order; the NPA's Fifth Peace Preservation Police Chief Huang Jiunn-hung (黃俊宏) will be promoted and take over Hsieh's position; Kaohsiung County Police Department Commissioner Yuan Hsing-yi (袁行一) will then succeed Huang's position and Aviation Police Bureau Deputy Commissioner Chen Po-hsuan (陳伯壎) will become the new commissioner of the Hualien County Police Department.
In addition, Chiayi City Police Department Commissioner Wen Kuo-chung (文國忠) will be promoted as the NPA's Inspection Department chief and his position will be succeeded by Taipei City Police Department's Chungshan Precinct Director Chen Kuo-an (陳國恩).
The NPA has authority over police personnel. However, according to "tradition," the NPA, however, always submitted its proposed personnel arrangements to the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), which is the superior office of the NPA, for an initial review and approval before it is sent to local government offices for the final approval.
In the past, this mechanism created many obstacles for police officers' promotion because under this system, hard work did not guarantee proper promotion.
Since Chang became director-general, he has been trying hard to make sure that the NPA has the authority to decide its own personnel affairs because it would also be a sign that police officers' promotions would not be affected by politics or favoritism.
However, Chang's plan was not realized when Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (
Both Chang and Yang refused to reveal the three candidates' names.
"Chang said that proper promotion will be important for hard-working police officers. I agree with that so I think Deputy Chen deserves the promotion," Yang said.
"Yuan's position is an important one. No matter who is going to take the seat, this candidate must be a senior officer who has been through positions such as senior inspector of either Taipei City or Kaohsiung City or local police department commissioner. Chen is a good cop with a great reputation but he needs at least another 10 years' experience with the force to be qualified for the post," Chang said. "We are still negotiating with Commissioner Yang and it will be worked out soon."
Minister of the Interior Yu Chen-hsien (
"The MOI will respect the NPA's decisions on police personnel affairs and will work with them to persuade local governments to accept our proposals," Yu said.
As of press time yesterday, the MOI, the NPA and the Kaohsiung County Government have not come up with an agreement on a proper candidate to take over the county's police department commissioner's office.
Rumors were spread earlier last week that many "senior police officers," who have been stuck in one specific position for years, may have a chance to be promoted now that Chang has become the top-ranking officer in the country.
In fact, Chang, who is also a licensed pharmacist in addition to his police background, was one of those "senior police officers" before he took over the NPA director-general's office.
Earlier in May this year, when the superiors were considering a new candidate to be promoted as commissioner of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB), which is regarded as an important position because many former CIB commissioners became NPA director-generals, Chang was one of the candidates.
However, Yu said, "`The younger, the better' is our policy to consider and decide on a new commissioner for the CIB," which was also a statement designed to cast a shadow on Chang's candidacy.
Ever since he took office, Chang has more than once said in public that he would like to establish a "seniority" mechanism in the force.
"I want to encourage my fellow police officers to work hard. In addition, I want to let them know that their future depends on how well they perform. `Wherever there is a will, there is a way' and `No cross, no crown' will be the spirit I want to promote," Chang said.
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