The Ministry of the Interior has decided to increase the police force by 4,200 officers this year and the next, to help local governments maintain public safety.
Most of the newly recruited officers would be concentrated in the six special municipalities, which would also pay for them, but the National Police Agency would also manage and pay for some of them, the Executive Yuan said.
However, all local governments that need officers are eligible to request them, it said.
Photo: Wu Jen-chieh, Taipei Times
After learning of the ministry’s plan at a Cabinet-level meeting on Feb. 24, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) and Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said the move would greatly increase the financial burden on their communities.
They asked that the central government subsidize the new officers’ salaries.
The Executive Yuan said it would control the number of officers assigned to their communities, but added that the cost of adding 900 officers to New Taipei City, 700 to Taoyuan and 400 to Tainan was sustainable if managed efficiently.
Mayors of some special municipalities have said that with officers delaying retirement following last year’s pension reforms, they do not have an urgent need for police, while other mayors and commissioners have said that their local police departments are understaffed.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said at a cabinet-level meeting on public safety on Wednesday that local police chiefs would be replaced if there were brawls reported outside “special entertainment businesses” in their area, by which he meant nightclubs and bars offering bar girls or prostitutes.
The first batch of new recruits would begin working in October at the earliest, the Executive Yuan said.
The number of new officers was calculated based on the needs of the central and local governments, and the number of cadets graduating from police schools this year and next, it said.
If local governments incur deficits because of the move, the Executive Yuan might subsidize the personnel costs, said an official with knowledge of the matter, who requested anonymity.
The ministry would communicate with and mediate between the six municipalities regarding the number of officers that each would be assigned, the official said.
The National Police Agency has asked that each regional police department submit an estimate of the number of officers needed to the local government for review before submitting the request to the agency.
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