Nine civil rights groups today issued a joint statement calling on the Taipei City Government to take further disciplinary action against police officers involved in a raid on a gay bar earlier this month, and said they would petition the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) and the Control Yuan to investigate the incident.
On the afternoon of Oct. 3, police raided the bar Commander D in Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) area under a warrant following alleged reports of nudity and indecent behavior. Police took 51 people in for questioning and arrested the owner.
Following the raid, six police officers from Taipei’s Wanhua Precinct were disciplined for using excessive force and prejudiced behavior.
Photo: Wang Kuan-jen, Taipei Times
The Taipei City Police Department on Oct. 5 said that the raid was justified in the eyes of the law, though four officers had been handed two demerits each for using inappropriate language.
Those disciplined included Wanhua Precinct Chief Chen Yung-hua (陳勇華) and the lead investigator, the department said.
One video of the raid that circulated on social media showed a police officer asking a customer in a wheelchair who was in the toilet how disabled people “manage to have sex in there.”
Amnesty International Taiwan, the Judicial Reform Foundation, the Taiwan Criminal Defense Attorney Association, Covenants Watch, the League for Persons with Disabilities Taiwan, the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, the Taiwan Labor Front, the Awakening Foundation and the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights cosigned the statement.
The groups made four demands.
First, an investigation report covering the entire law enforcement process must be published so that the public can understand what happened and how the authorities reviewed their actions.
Second, cases should not be dismissed when officers cannot be identified, as the authorities should thoroughly investigate potential criminal and administrative liability regarding an individual officers’ conduct.
Third, training, management and other aspects of police operations must be reviewed to prevent similar incidents of discrimination and unlawful conduct occurring.
Fourth, legal amendments should be implemented to explicitly recognize the right to have a lawyer present during searches, ensuring that people are not left defenseless when dealing with the police.
The groups said they had asked the Taipei City Government to provide a public response by yesterday, but it had yet to respond, seemingly treating the case as “closed.”
Lenient disciplinary measures send the message that improper police conduct is tolerated, they said, adding that if the matter is not addressed, similar cases of police abuse of power would inevitably occur again.
The groups further called on the Ministry of the Interior to direct the National Police Agency to conduct a substantive investigation into the police operation and the subsequent handling of the case.
The investigation should review evidence, including the search warrant, operational plans, command records, footage from officers’ body cameras and the records of those who were taken to police stations and questioned, the groups said.
Investigators should take statements from those involved, lawyers present at the scene and any other witnesses, they added.
The groups called on the Control Yuan to obtain documents and question relevant personnel to determine misconduct or dereliction of duty among individual officers and their supervisors.
It should further examine why existing police oversight mechanisms had failed, the groups said.
The results of the investigation, bar certain protections for the privacy of those involved, should be released for public scrutiny, it added.
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