Political pundit and former Taiwan People’s Party member Grace Woo (吳靜怡) on Saturday last week attended a civic group event in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) to promote the recall of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯). From the moment Woo left the venue, a pair of police officers began to trail her along the road.
Have we made a return to the martial law era? Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) needs to provide a clear and full response to this incident.
When asked about this matter, Chiang said: “My position has always and will continue to be to support the police, and to enforce laws within their proper scope, in accordance with the law.”
However, were the police officers acting according to the law? Article 4 of the Police Power Exercise Act (警察職權行使法) states: “When exercising their authority the police shall wear their uniforms or present their credentials that show their identity and they shall state their intent.”
Nowhere in Woo’s publicly shared video clip does it show that the plainclothes officers presented any credentials to prove their identity, nor did they give Woo a reason for why they were exercising their authority.
Article 9 of the act states: “When the police have enough facts to believe that the actions of people who participate in assemblies, parades or other public events may endanger public safety or order, they may collect at the scene information about the participants in the event by videotape, recording or other technology tools.”
The event that Woo was granted a permit for was a lawful gathering of the public to “hand out Lunar New Year couplets and to spread democratic ideas.”
What reason was there to believe Woo had committed an unlawful act, or harmed public safety or order? Even if her participation in a civic event had contravened any law, the police should have collected information about all the participants at the event, and not trailed and surveilled her when she departed.
Article 11 of the act states that police “may observe people in the following activities through visual inspection or technology tools ... collect data over the reasonably expected behaviors or life activities irrelevant to personal privacy or secrecy within a specified period of time that is deemed necessary and with the prior written approval of a police department chief in order to prevent crimes” committed by “people who are believed on the basis of sufficient facts to be likely to commit a crime that is punishable by at least five years’ imprisonment” and those “who are believed on the basis of sufficient facts to be likely involved in professional, habitual, syndicated, or organized crimes.”
However, Woo’s participation in a civic event does not meet the conditions of “suspicion of having committed a crime,” showing that the police contravened the law.
Essentially, the police used the excuse of “guaranteeing personal safety” to carry out unlawful surveillance. It is as if we have been transported back in time to the martial law era. This is an abuse and misuse of police authority, and Chiang ought to come out and provide an honest and clear explanation to dispel any doubts.
Yeh Yu-cheng is a secretary at the Pingtung County Government Public Health Bureau.
Translated by Tim Smith
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