The Ministry of the Interior yesterday announced it would increase inspection of the police following a recent spate of scandals involving police officers.
"The police authority has estimated there are more than two hundred police officers who may have close relations with gangsters or be involved in corruption, accounting for 0.3 percent of the nation's total of 67,000 police officers. Another 0.7 percent of police were considered to be working `abnormally,' but 99 percent of police officers are good police," Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) told a press conference yesterday.
Lee and National Police Agency Director-General Hou You-yi (侯友宜) yesterday held a meeting with chiefs of police from around the nation and asked them to crack down on corruption and other scandals involving police officers.
"I asked chief of police from around the country to submit a list of police officers suspected of involvement in corruption and other scandals, and the national police agency will liaise with prosecutors to conduct investigations," said Hou.
If a police officer was found to be involved in wrongdoings but his supervisor had failed to report the matter, the supervisor would also be punished, Hou said.
Hou said the national police agency decided to expand its inspection division to crackdown on bad officers.
Police have been under criticism over a number of scandals involving police officers.
In July, five Taipei County police officers, including Tsai Jung-yuan (
An Ilan police officer Hung I-fung (
Earlier this month, a highway patrol officer Chang Chen-lung (
Chang, suspended from his job, was under criminal investigation for the incident.
Earlier this month, another three Taipei police officers were detained on suspicion of asking illegal casinos for protection money.
Last week, a Taipei police officer Lee Yu-sung (
Lee was suspended from his job and faces a criminal investigation.
In another case last week, a high ranking police officer Yeh Hsin-i (
Yeh was released on bail by prosecutors.
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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