In the wake of the alleged murder of a young police officer by an arrested suspect, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) declared to a legislative meeting yesterday that the training session for officers recruited from regular colleges will be extended to 18 months.
Jiang made the declaration during an Internal Administration Committee meeting as lawmakers across party lines expressed concerns about the personal safety of police officers.
Police officer Lai Chih-yan (賴智彥), 27, was stabbed more than 10 times in the neck and back by a crime suspect surnamed Dai (戴) on Monday evening, police said. Dai was not handcuffed or searched before he was put in the back seat of the police car. When the car arrived at the police station, Dai allegedly took out a knife and stabbed Lai in a vain attempt to flee.
Jiang said the tragedy could have been averted if Lai and his colleagues had followed the proper procedures when making the arrest, and longer training may help prevent similar incidents in the future.
“When arresting a wanted suspect, the officer must first conduct a body search and handcuff the suspect. When bringing a suspect back to the police station in a police car, there must be at least one other officer sitting in the back seat with the suspect,” Jiang said. “Unfortunately none of the procedures were followed in this case.”
Lai attended a regular college and received one year of training after passing the police exam. He had been working as a police officer since the beginning of the year.
Currently, graduates from the two-year Taiwan Police College and from regular colleges who pass the police officer exam and receive one year of training may become police officers.
“Beginning in 2011, the training session for recruits who have not attended the police academy will be extended from 12 months to 18 months,” Jiang said.
However, the announcement did not satisfy the lawmakers.
“More than 600 new recruits are expected to pass the police exam next year before the extended training program is in place,” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said. “That means we’re putting more than 600 underprepared new officers on the job, that just doesn’t make sense to me.”
“I demand that next year’s police exam be suspended, until the better training program is in place,” he added.
KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) supported Wu’s call.
Jiang, on the other hand, said that he had no objection to the idea in principle, but there are many technical issues to be resolved before calling off the exam.
“We will discuss the situation with the Examination Yuan to see if this is possible,” Jiang said.
Meanwhile, both Wu and Huang, as well as Democratic Progressive Party legislators Yu Tian (余天) and William Lai (賴清德) said the penalty of demerits would be too light for Lai Chih-yan’s colleagues, the police station chief and the precinct chief.
They urged the chief of Zhongshan Precinct, where Lai Chih-yan worked, to step down.
“I will ask the National Police Agency to turn in a detailed report on the incident within three days, and will give a clear answer on whether high-ranking officers should resign,” Jiang said.
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