The arrest on Aug. 7 of two suspects in the murder of former Hsinhu Elementary School teacher Wu Hsiao-hui (
That it took the police eight years to make a breakthrough in the case suggests that people's human rights might actually be better protected if there was a fingerprint database, some law enforcement officials and lawmakers said.
The two suspects were linked to the case after the police received a tip last month that one of them, Huang Chi-feng (
PHOTO: LU HSIEN-HSIU, TAIPEI TIMES
Huang was finally arrested after fingerprints, palmprints and blood samples he provided to the police in relation to a rape case last October were matched with prints found on Wu's car at the crime scene.
Cheng Ching-sung (鄭清松), commissioner of the National Police Administration's Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB), said that it had taken the police eight years to make a breakthrough in Wu's case because very little evidence had been discovered at the crime scene and there were no witnesses. The police didn't even know how many suspects they were looking for, Cheng said.
"We tried to match the fingerprints we collected in our databank. However, it came up with nothing," Cheng said. "As for the palmprint, the police could not analyze it properly because they don't have the equipment to do it."
Police said that Huang identified his friend Wang Yu-chuan (
The establishment of a national fingerprint databank was first raised in a 1997 amendment to the Household Registration Law (戶籍法).
The amendment required everyone over the age of 14 to provide their fingerprints when issued with photo identification cards.
However, human-rights groups lobbied against the proposal and it was rejected.
The CIB already has a fingerprint database compiled from Ministry of National Defense records and police records of suspects when they are arrested, Cheng said.
"Military personnel are required to give fingerprint information when they join the armed forces. For security purposes, the CIB also has access to this information," Cheng said.
However, the database is far from comprehensive and Cheng said there were, in particular, two kinds of people whose fingerprints would not have been recorded.
"First, when the suspect is a female, with no military background or a criminal record, or second, when the suspect is a male but hasn't served his compulsory military service and has no criminal record," Cheng said.
While all men in Taiwan over the age of 18 are required to complete compulsory military service, there are certain exemptions, such as for disability or obesity.
Cheng said that if the police hadn't received the tip and been able to use the fingerprint, palmprint and blood sample he provided to police in an unrelated case, Wu's murder would have remained unsolved.
"I think this is a good example of how important a national fingerprint databank is," Cheng said.
Sandy Yeh (葉毓蘭), director of the Continuing Education and Training Center at the Central Police University, also believes a national fingerprint database would help the police investigate serious crimes.
She said protecting people's privacy should not be a problem if the database is well regulated.
"In the US, every newborn baby has to give its fingerprints when it applies for a social security card," Yeh said. "The fingerprint information is only used by the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for criminal investigation purposes. That is what we are trying to do here in Taiwan as well."
Lawmakers are also warming to the idea.
TSU Legislator Chien Lin Hui-chun (錢林慧君) said human rights and privacy should be protected at all costs. However, if a new mechanism finds criminals more quickly, more innocent people's human rights would be protected, she said.
"A national fingerprint database would enable the police to find the criminals a lot more easily," she said. "In addition, whenever there's a disaster, this databank will also help forensic pathologists and family members identify bodies."
DPP lawmaker Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) said that it was necessary to establish a national fingerprint database for security reasons, but with protections for human rights.
"From a security point of view, I support the proposal. However, how the fingerprint databank is used should be regulated by law so there will be no problems of violating human rights," Lee said.
PFP lawmaker Lee Hung-chun (
"We're living in a high-tech world," Lee Hung-chun said. "While we're building a national fingerprint database, we should at the same time make sure people's rights are protected."
Executive Yuan Spokesman Chuang Shuo-han (
"Protecting human rights is always our top priority," Chuang said. "We won't support the proposal before human-rights groups accept it."
In the meantime, the President's Advisory Group on Human Rights said that seminars would be held next month to discuss this issue.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS