The National Police Agency (NPA) yesterday removed Lin Chih-cheng (林志誠) from his post as Taipei Songshan Precinct chief because of an incident at the precinct’s Zhonglun Police Station in which a group of young men were released without being charged after causing damage at the station.
At about 2am on April 16, a physical training instructor at the precinct named Yang Chung-li (楊忠蒞), 49, was chased into the station after an argument with a group of 10 men who were out drinking.
Yang had also been drinking, and said he had been on his way to the station at the time to rest.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
While chasing Yang, the men knocked over items in the station, including a desktop computer, but no charges were laid against them after they submitted letters and apologized.
Allowing people to act recklessly and damage police property has hurt the image of the station and the police force, the NPA said.
It is the duty of the police force to strictly enforce the law when its authority is challenged, and to ensure public safety, the NPA said, adding that it would pursue the case without impunity.
Lin had requested that he be punished over the incident.
He told a news conference yesterday that since surveillance footage from inside the station at the time of the incident had been deleted, the case has been sent to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office to be investigated.
Hsu Shu-huan (許書桓) — who was removed from his position as Zhonglun Police Station director on Thursday last week — yesterday said that he had accidentally deleted the surveillance footage.
At a news conference on Thursday last week, Lin quoted the station as saying that the footage was missing due to a power outage that occurred between 3am and 6am on the day of the incident.
Taipei Police Department Commissioner Chen Jia-chang (陳嘉昌) yesterday said that while it was likely the footage had been deleted accidentally, Hsu would be charged for destruction of evidence.
Lawyer Tsai Cheng-chieh (蔡正傑) said that if Hsu is found to have intentionally deleted the footage he would be subject to Article 165 of the Criminal Code.
Under article, “a person who forges, alters, destroys, or conceals evidence in the criminal case of another or makes use of such forged or altered evidence,” faces up to two years in prison.
However, as a public official, Hsu could see his sentence raised to three years under Article 134 of the code, Tsai said.
Additional reporting by Wang Kuan-jen
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