Taipei City police have been under intense scrutiny recently with more than 10 municipal policemen suspected of running call-girl services and detaining prostitutes to extort money from their managers.
The series of scandals not only upset Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Prostitution scandal
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
On Sept. 4, Taipei City's Criminal Investigation Corps, acting on a tip-off, arrested four suspects believed to be members of a crime syndicate. The suspects were reportedly pretending to be potential customers, specifically requesting girls from China for call-girl services.
They then held the girls and extorted between NT$50,000 and NT$100,000 from their managers. They reportedly threatened to call the police if the girls or their managers refused to cooperate.
Much to the investigation corps' surprise, two of those arrested were from the municipal Public Security Police Corps.
The two, Liu Chun-hui (
Their two accomplices, Su Chih-cheng (蘇志誠) and Mu Li-ming (穆立明), also admitted to their roles in the crime during interrogation.
Su, a 35-year-old taxi driver, has previous convictions for theft, robbery and assault. Mu, 42, has convictions for manslaughter and fraud.
On Sept. 8, the Criminal Investigation Corps identified three more municipal policemen suspected of being members of the same crime syndicate.
The three, Huang Hsin-chin (
The three were accused of extorting NT$30,000 from the manager of a call-girl service and setting the call girl free after obtaining the money.
Although the three deny the allegation, they were suspended from duty and charged with malfeasance and the deliberate release of a suspected criminal -- the prostitute in this case.
Three of the policemen's supervisors also received disciplinary measures ranging from reprimands to demerits.
Controversy snowballs
The scandal then snowballed. On Sept. 21 prosecutors began to suspect a detective from the first Chungchung police precinct of managing a call-girl service and being involved in extortion.
Police had earlier searched the premises of a call-girl service suspected of being managed by detective Lin Chia-fu (林家福) and found Lin's personal belongings as well as account books and what were suspected to be lists of victims and the amounts of money extorted from them.
Lin, who is married with two children, is reported to have been living with a woman from China, Mao Wei-hsien (
Mao, who police say has been in and out of Taiwan illegally over a hundred times since March last year, was later charged with forging documents.
Lin's whereabouts, however, remain unknown. He made a trip to Macao on Sept. 19 and was due to report for duty on Sept. 22, but failed to do so.
Meanwhile, on Sept. 22, the Taipei District Court ordered the detention of three more municipal policemen on suspicion of corruption and extortion.
Prosecutors said that Lee Shih-hsuan (李世璿), Tu Chien-hua (涂建華), and Chuang Wen-tsung (莊文宗) of the Chungshan police precinct had arrested Mao on suspicion of engaging in sexual acts with her client at a motel.
The three attempted to extort NT$200,000 from Mao's manager but then reduced the amount to NT$100,000 when they found that her manager was Lin.
The three were later suspended along with Lin. Their supervisors also received disciplinary measures ranging from reprimands to demerits.
Academics say that improving the education of police may be the best way to solve the problem of police corruption.
Police education
"There's always room for improvement in the education system, which is the building block of morality and self-discipline," said Frank Huang (黃富源), a criminology professor and dean of student affairs at Central Police University.
Huang said moral education at the police academy concentrated on one-way indoctrination in the past, but contemporary moral education focuses on discussion of situations.
"We've introduced a series of morality-development courses where different possible dilemmas are offered in class to let students engage in discussion," he said.
For example, you owe your life to one of your co-workers when shots are fired at you and he takes the bullets for you and survives. What would you do if you found out that the person who has saved your life is involved in a corruption scandal?
"We believe that those who have the highest moral standards exercise the best self discipline," he said. "We hope the moral education given here will change the mind and soul of a person."
Education about justice is also important for the curriculum, he said.
"Only those who respect others understand the importance of justice and human rights," he said.
In addition, the school encourages students to participate in cultural and artistic activities and to develop the habit of constant exercise.
"We believe that those who value quality of life and who enjoy exercising are healthy in their mind and body," he said.
Moral education, however, does not stop when a student graduates from school.
"On-the-job training and in-service education are equally important. Because, after all, a complicated working environment is the source of deadly temptations," he said.
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