The Control Yuan on Monday ordered government agencies to review and propose solutions for the issues of pension reform and an aging police force, which has led to an imbalance in supply and demand, and a decline in police personnel numbers.
An investigation launched by Control Yuan member Chang Kuei-mei (仉桂美) showed that two changes to pension rules enacted in 2011 and last year led to an increase in officers aged 50 or older from 6,559 in 2015 to 14,039 as of October.
An increase to the voluntary retirement age and a pension cut have led to police officers retiring en masse or delaying retirement plans, Chang said.
There are three types of civil servant retirement in Taiwan — voluntary, of-age and medical.
Voluntary retirement is for those who reach the age of 60 and have worked in civil service for at least five years or in the vocation for at least 25 years, the Act Governing Civil Servants’ Retirement, Discharge and Pensions (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法) states.
If their agency is reorganized or downsized, civil servants can apply for voluntary retirement if they have held the position for at least 20 years; they have held the position for 10 to 20 years and are at least 55; or they have worked for three years at the highest pay grade of their particular job and are and are at least 55, the act says.
Due to increases of the retirement age, the average age of police officers is 42, with those aged 46 or older constituting 36 percent of the national police force, Chang said.
The police force has a supply and demand issue, with insufficient new officers largely due to recruiting being unable to keep up with the retirement rate, she said.
The government stepped up recruiting after a shortage of officers in 2004, but it failed to end the measures in 2016 when retirement rates started falling, Chang said.
In 2015 and 2016, officers taking voluntary retirement dropped from 3,080 to 1,818, she said, adding that pension reforms enacted in July last year prompted volunteer retirement to fall from 87.05 percent in 2015 to 70.31 percent last year.
The Ministry of the Interior, the National Police Agency and the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration should conduct reviews and analyses of how pension reform is affecting the national police force, as well as offer mid and long-term solutions for officer supply issues, the Control Yuan said.
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