Fri, May 04, 2001 page12

• Editorial: The scarlet letter

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  About a month ago a Taipei policeman branded the characters "yeh-mao" (夜貓, night cat, Hokkein slang for prostitute) with a white-hot piece of wire onto the chest of a 17 year-old schoolgirl. This gruesome tale has been greeted with disgust and outrage. But we cannot help but feel concerned about two other aspects of this incident -- the widespread abuse of police power and psychological problems among members of the police force.

  Most people would suspect the policeman of being psychologically unstable, to say the least. The question then becomes how did his problems escape detection? How did he manage to join and stay in the police force? Don't members of the Taipei police have to undergo psychological evaluations upon joining the force and periodically thereafter? It would be worrying if the answer were no. Due to the enormous power vested in police officers and the high stress of fighting crime, the police of many countries, if not most, undergo such evaluations.

  The stress of the police officer's job is unimaginable. For most people, murder, rape, child-abuse and other crimes are no more than stories we read over the morning coffee. They are part of a police officer's everyday life. The police are on society's frontlines and they put their lives at risk everyday. Many officers, unable to cope, end up with psychological problems or resort to alcohol abuse, family violence and, all too often, suicide.

  Because the police have a great deal of power, it is all to easy to succumb to the temptation to abuse those powers. The police are also armed, making them capable of inflicting grave injuries. Therefore, careful pre-screenings must be made to filter out those with mental or emotional problems and periodic assessments must be conducted to ensure only those who are psychologically sound stay on board.

  The most appalling thing about the branding case is that the cop in question remained on active duty for about a month after the incident, even after his victim filed a complaint against him. This hints not only of a possible attempted cover-up, but of an indifference about what further harm the officer might inflict on others.

  It remains unclear whether the teen had, as alleged by the policeman, solicited another man over the phone. Even if she did, though, that was no excuse for his actions. The cop said he decided not to take the girl in, because she did not want her parents and school to find out. What makes this policeman think that he has the power to decide such a thing?

  Unfortunately, the policeman may have only been doing what his comrades continue to do -- act as prosecutor and judge themselves. Wasn't it only recently that two Taipei policemen tried to settle matters privately with a TV producer who had assaulted them while they were on duty?

  It shouldn't matter that the policemen was off-duty when the assault occurred. It shouldn't matter that the teen accepted the "punishment" without resisting. It shouldn't matter that the officer reached a private settlement with the girl and her family.

  There is no way the Taipei police can escape responsibility. That the officer thought he could get away with it, that the girl was both intimidated by and accepting of such abuse, speaks volumes about the need to clean up the force. Such an overhaul, however, should not be restricted to Taipei. Just because we might not have heard of such incidents from other cities, towns, or counties doesn't mean that it can't happen.

  The police have been branded with a scarlet letter of their own -- "A" for abuser. It is up to the National Police Administration and society at large to ensure that such abuse of power ends.
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