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Legislators slam officials, premier over `crime wave'

Pan-blue legislators criticized the government yesterday for their failure to maintain public security in the wake of a recent spate of crimes.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers asked National Police Agency Director-General Hou You-yi (侯友宜) to resign if the gangster who issued a warning to another gangster by sending threatening video footage to a local TV station was not arrested within a week.

"The case showed how terrible Taiwan's public security is. Even the gangsters dare to brazenly make such provocative moves," KMT legislative caucus whip Hsu Shao-ping (徐少萍) said.

BROKEN PROMISE

KMT Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) said that Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) had failed to live up to his pledge to improve public security by making it a top priority for the administration.

Last March, two months after Su assumed the premiership, he said he would withdraw from political life if he failed to improve public security and reduce crime rates within six months.

People First Party (PFP) lawmakers attempted to make Su live up to his vow by holding a press conference yesterday to urge him to step down over what they perceived as a deterioration in public security.

"Su said last year that he would quit his job if the public did not feel that the crime situation had improved. Now it's time for him to deliver on his promise," PFP Legislator Feng Ting-kuo (馮定國) said.

Meanwhile, Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) said that his ministry would instruct the police agency to increase its efforts to prosecute gangsters around the nation.

TREES, NOT FOREST

However, Lee said that despite a wave of high-profile crimes, public security is not getting worse.

"We can't just see the single cases. We have to gauge whether public security is getting better by the overall situation," the minister said in response to a question from KMT Legislator Huang Chih-hsiung (黃志雄).

Lee said that the accusation that the public security had not improved was not true.

"For example, even Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) said that the crime rate in the city last year fell to its lowest level in seven years," Lee said.
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