In light of previous shootings on the eve of important elections and claims that such incidents could have a disproportionate influence on how people vote, live security exercises have been undertaken since June to ensure the security of all presidential candidates in the run-up to the presidential election in January, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said.
On March 19, 2004, the day before the presidential election, a bullet grazed then-president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) stomach and another hit then-vice president Annette Lu’s (呂秀蓮) knee as they were sat in a motorcade campaigning in Tainan.
Last year, former vice president Lien Chan’s (連戰) son Sean Lien (連勝文) was shot in the face the night before the special municipality elections on Nov. 27 while attending a rally for a New Taipei City councilor candidate in Yonghe City (永和).
Seeking to take preventive measures against any possible recurrence in combined presidential and legislative elections in January, the bureau said it has already put security teams through rigorous training and would hold a ceremony in early November to formally announce the establishment of security details for next year’s presidential candidates.
The bureau’s Special Service Center organized a live exercise in front of the Military Police School on Friday, attended by officials from the Coast Guard Administration, National Police Administration, the National Immigration Agency and the Military Police Command Center, in an effort to unite everyone involved in planning and enforcing security detail arrangements.
According to the bureau, the Special Service Center achieved good results when it organized a live fire exercise for the police departments of Greater Taichung, Greater Kaohsiung and Taipei City on June 23, June 24 and June 27 respectively. Those exercises simulated scenarios where candidates canvassed on the streets, in a night market and on foot.
One special agent said that well-wishers had the unfortunate custom of setting off firecrackers when candidates’ motorcades passed through an area or the candidates themselves visited a traditional market.
Such behavior severely complicates security work, the agent said, adding that the bureau had already held talks with the relevant authorities about a possible ban on the use of firecrackers in the vicinity of presidential candidates or their vehicles.
A bureau official said that the live exercises brought together different agencies and were organized around real-life scenarios, such as scouting an area for potential threats, detailed deployment and how to handle a variety of disturbances.
The point of the exercises was to enhance inter-agency coordination and to improve the ability of teams to improvise depending on the situation to keep candidates safe at all times, the bureau official said.
The official added that since last month the Special Service Center has also offered training in marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat and bodyguard work.
Heads of security details, team leaders and drivers have all been given such special training, the official said.
TRANSLATED BY JAKE CHUNG, STAFF WRITER
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS