The National Police Agency is cracking cases of automobile and motorbike theft like never before, thanks to a new legion of crime-fighters, Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (
According to a National Police Agency press release, 7,283 cases of vehicle theft nationwide have been solved since April 1, with overall annual rates of theft for automobiles and motorbikes dropping 31 percent and 19 percent, respectively.
"There has been a marked improvement in the effort to recover stolen vehicles. This year, for example, there are 2,000 fewer cases of vehicle theft than the same period last year," Lee told reporters at a press conference yesterday to honor the "detectives" responsible for this achievement.
PHOTO: CHEN TSE-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
"Ninety-two out of 100 stolen vehicles have been recovered so far this year," Lee added.
So who are these super sleuths? Blue-collar workers, housewives and students -- middle-class folks who track down stolen vehicles in their spare time.
As part of Premier Su Tseng-chang's (
Public help
Since early April, the agency has included a hyperlink on its Web site that allows users to input vehicle license plate numbers to check whether vehicles are listed as stolen or missing. If there's a positive match, users can call a hotline to alert the police as to the vehicle's location and other details.
Users who provide information leading to the recovery of stolen vehicles or the solving of vehicle theft cases are eligible for a cash reward of NT$20,000 (US$615), and a chance to be honored at a monthly press conference at the agency's Taipei headquarters.
The first place investigator in yesterday's conference was Lin Hou-chi (
The runners-up included two housewives, an electrician and a plumber.
"We owe a debt of gratitude to the citizens who are making us all safer," Lee said as he shook hands with the top citizen crime-fighters last month.
National Policy Agency Director-General Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) was also on hand to congratulate the winners.
Safety improvement
Lee acknowledged during the conference that recent opinion polls reflect a lack of public confidence in Su's campaign to stamp out crime. However, he urged people to pay attention to statistics showing that public safety was improving.
"These are objective numbers showing that crime is decreasing," Lee told reporters.
Su pledged in March to significantly reduce crime levels by early next month or he would resign.
The minister also said that while maintaining order was the responsibility of the Taipei City Police Department during the planned sit-in protest against President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) starting on Sept. 9, National Police Agency forces under the Ministry of the Interior would be ready to assist city police during the demonstration if needed.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods