Changhua County officials yesterday defended police for taking three schoolchildren out of class and putting them in protective custody to safeguard them from a murder suspect.
The remarks were made in response to criticism regarding police entering the school and revealing the identity of the three children.
Changhua Police Department officials said they received information that Shih Hsin-cheng (施信誠), who allegedly killed his wife, surnamed Chien (潛), in an execution-style murder on Thursday last week, was planning to visit his three children from a prior marriage and abduct them. Based on that information, they decided to proactively place the children in protective custody on Friday last week.
They said police notified the school to inform administrators about the potential danger to the three children and were accompanied to the school by Shih’s ex-wife, who consented to the action being taken.
“Together with police officers, she went to the classrooms to pick up her three children so that they could be placed in protective custody. They are now together at a safe place, under the supervision of the Changhua Department of Social Affairs,” the officials said.
The operation involved four plainclothes and two uniformed police officers, and the school was fully informed of their intent and procedures beforehand, the officials added.
However, questions were raised over the legitimacy of police entering the school, as their actions generated fear and violated the children’s privacy by revealing their association with the murder case to classmates and parents.
Legal experts have said the nation’s judicial system failed in this case, as Shih was to be detained for eight months for a sexual assault, but was released after serving three months of a separate conviction, and judicial authorities neglected to take him into custody to serve the remainder of his jail term
Shih, after eluding a manhunt for five days, surrendered to police in Chiayi County’s Taibao City (太保) yesterday evening, police said.
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