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Su hosts crime-fighting meeting

Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said he was expecting "giant progress" in the upcoming month regarding the Cabinet's initiative to cut the crime rate.

Su yesterday presided over a meeting which was attended by representatives from more than 20 ministries. The meeting aimed to review and examine the Cabinet's progress in maintaining public order, a month after Su announced on March 15 that he would step down if the crime rate did not drop within six months.

Speaking on behalf of Su, Government Information Office Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) told the press that the premier explained to ministry representatives during the meeting that he would expect shorter and shorter monthly meetings on public order issues in the future as he anticipated less worries and issues to be discussed.

"The premier said, `If the crime rate is low, everybody lives happily. If the crime rate is high, everybody experiences hell,'" Cheng said at a press conference held following the three-hour meeting.

Cheng said the premier also proposed a more efficient way to hold the monthly meeting next month -- Government heads are to list their policies and the results while the premier would also list his demands for the past month. Government heads will then discuss and review the achievements.

Cheng quoted Su as saying that the public felt that "the crime rate has dropped within the past month."

When asked by reporters how the Cabinet had reached this conclusion, Cheng said, "We can obviously feel that from TV news coverage."

"From TV news, it is not difficult to tell that there have been fewer crimes within the past month. But, there is still room to make progress, for sure," he said.

Cheng said that although the Cabinet had been trying hard to decrease the crime rate, law enforcement officers may feel frustrated in their work because of a lack of sufficient legislation.

"We may need lawmakers to make new laws to boost our plan to cut the crime rate or approve as many pending laws as possible. However, the premier urged everybody to do as much as possible instead of waiting for the legislature to pass the relevant mechanisms," Cheng said.
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