The “tattooing” of motor vehicles has proven to be such an effective measure in lowering theft rates that the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is planning to start a nationwide program to reduce bicycle theft.
“The MOI plans to start registering bicycles and owner information, as well as printing identification numbers on each bicycle to reduce bicycle theft,” the MOI said in a press statement.
The ministry said that previous programs to mark serial numbers on cars and motorcycles had been very successful in reducing vehicle theft rates.
“Most bicycles produced in Taiwan come with a set of serial numbers, so we plan to register a particular bike and the owner using the serial number,” the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s Crime Investigation Section chief Chiu Nien-hsing (邱念興) told the Taipei Times via telephone. “So when we find a stolen bicycle, we can locate the owner quickly.”
He said that since some imported bicycles may not have serial numbers, they would assign numbers to such bicycles.
To prevent bicycle thieves from selling bicycle parts separately, Chiu said that the police would put the number onto different parts of bicycles using a special type of sticker.
When pasted onto bicycle parts, chemical ink in the sticker penetrates the part and remains there, he said.
“This will be very effective in preventing bicycle thefts,” Chiu said. “In the past, marking vehicle parts has helped to reduce car theft by about 50 percent and motorcycle theft by about 40 percent.”
He added that police authorities in several counties and cities around the nation had started the program in May last year, and a nationwide anti-bicycle theft program would likely be launched in May.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration is seeking to join an Indo-Pacific economic framework being planned by the US, a senior official said. The government is paying close attention to the regional economic pact being touted by US President Joe Biden, although too few details have emerged from Washington for Taipei to make specific plans, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The US is expected to launch the Indo-Pacific economic framework next month after negotiations with Australia, India and Japan, the official said. The economic initiative is to tackle trade facilitation, standards for the digital economy and technology, supply-chain resiliency and
‘NEW YEAR GIFT’: While the MAC called the song propaganda, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said that it addressed the homesickness of ‘Taiwanese compatriots’ A pro-unification pop song aired on Chinese television earlier this month would only further sour Taiwanese sentiment toward China, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Wednesday. The music video for We Sing the Same Song (我們同唱一首歌), which aired on China Central Television, features Chinese artists performing alongside Taiwanese singers Jam Hsiao (蕭敬騰), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Chen Li-nong (陳立農). The lyrics were reportedly written by Taiwanese lyricist Vincent Fang (方文山), known for his collaborations with Jay Chou (周杰倫), to music composed by a Chinese musician. Sung in Chinese and Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), the song is about three Taiwanese siblings who
RULES TIGHTENED: Passengers arriving from Sydney and Los Angeles tested positive for COVID-19, while passengers arriving from Seattle all tested negative Seventeen of the 217 passengers who arrived on long-haul at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning tested positive for COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said, adding that the positivity rate was higher than expected. Yesterday was the first day that the government enforced stricter health guidelines for the testing of passengers arriving on long-haul flights. They must undergo a polymerase chain reaction test immediately after arriving at the nation’s international airports. Those who test positive are sent directly to hospitals to avoid spreading the virus to people working in and around the airports and at quarantine hotels. Victor Wang (王必勝),
SEPARATE CASE? A woman tested positive when she went with her daughter to be tested, because her daughter had taken the same bus to school as a steakhouse worker The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 10 local COVID-19 cases, six of whom had visited a steakhouse in Taoyuan where an infection cluster has been reported. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that of the 10 local infections, one case — No. 17,928 — is a Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport disease prevention staffer who works in the area where inbound travelers collect their saliva for a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, and sometimes at the fever screening station. The staffer had tested negative in a PCR test on Jan. 9 and
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