The government should review the existing police recruitment system to avoid hiring people who may not be fit for the highly stressful occupation, a Central Police University professor, Yeh Yu-lan (葉毓蘭), said after a young female police officer on Thursday killed herself with a standard-issue police pistol.
The National Police Agency (NPA) has said it would not change its policy of issuing handguns to female police officers on the beat or on field assignments, but promised to offer better counseling to staff.
However, Yeh said the NPA's response did not go far enough. She said the agency should conduct a thorough review of its recruitment policy and implement changes to make sure that only mentally fit applicants join the force.
The police officer was only identified by her surname, Tsai (蔡), a 28-year-old graduate of National Kaohsiung University's department of law. She joined the police in 2005 after passing a local police recruitment examination.
Tsai reportedly had told her boyfriend, also a police officer, on the phone hours before her suicide that she had a heavy workload and was under a lot of pressure.
Tsai did not leave a suicide note.
Yeh said Tsai's suicide was not surprising.
“As evidenced in Tsai's case, police work is very stressful ... The incident highlights the importance of recruiting truly qualified people to join the police ranks,” Yeh said.
“Applicants who score high in written tests may not necessarily be able to cope with the stresses of work, life and relationships,” Yeh said.
Police administrators should pay more attention to the mental state and capacity of applicants, Yeh said, adding that only mentally strong and healthy people should be given access to guns.
She said that in Hong Kong, police recruits are required to pass a long-term assessment of emotional control, mental balance, communication skills and real-time judgment.
Attracted by the relatively high pay and job security, an increasing number of young women have entered the local police ranks in the past decade, Yeh said.
As the number of female officers continues to grow, they are no longer limited to desk jobs, but are being given field assignments, which tend to be very stressful, Yeh said.
NPA statistics show that Taiwan has more than 3,400 female police officers, accounting for 5 percent of the force.
Tsai was not the first policewoman to commit suicide. In 2008, an assistant criminal detective killed herself by inhaling charcoal fumes.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS