Press Conference: No Matter How Bad I Am, You Can't Watch Me Use the Restroom!

The Police Reform Alliance previously held a press conference on May 30 of this year titled "Police Love to Show Off, Gold Medals Rust!—Criticizing the Police for Violating the Principle of Non-Publicity of Investigation," demanding that the police strictly enforce the "Principle of Non-Disclosure of Investigations," and eradicate the illegal practice of leaking investigative and surveillance footage to the media for public broadcast. Following the press conference, the JRF submitted relevant evidence for five cases, requesting the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office to conduct investigations in accordance with the law.

Currently, the prosecutors' office has concluded its investigation into two of these cases and concluded in both instances that the police did not violate the principle of non-publicity of investigation. The reasoning for one case was that "the suspect's statements regarding the source of the firearms clearly defy common sense... evidentiary footage was provided for electronic media to re-film so that the public could assist in identification." The reasoning for the other case was that "the subject filmed and interviewed by the reporter was the suspect's son, not the suspect himself."

The problem is: Can "public identification" help prosecutors understand "the source of the firearms possessed by the suspect"? Since there is no necessity for the public to assist in identification, the police's act of releasing investigative and surveillance footage clearly lacks the justification of public interest. Furthermore, the scope of information required to be kept confidential under the "Directions for Handling News Regarding Criminal Cases Investigated by Prosecutors, Police, and Investigation Authorities" promulgated by the Ministry of Justice is not limited solely to criminal suspects. The prosecutors' reasoning is truly baffling and inevitably leaves one with the regret of "bureaucrats shielding one another."

What is even more infuriating is that, despite repeated reminders and appeals from the Alliance, the police continue to turn a blind eye to legal provisions such as Article 245, Paragraph 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure ("non-disclosure of investigations,") and the "Directions for Handling News Regarding Criminal Cases Investigated by Prosecutors, Police, and Investigation Authorities," and have even intensified their violations.

Recently, the Alliance again recorded two major and obvious violations of the principle of non-disclosure of investigations by the police. The police even provided electronic media with investigative footage of a drug dealer having drugs extracted from his anus for public broadcast! We solemnly accuse the police that the footage of this "detoxification" process not only completely lacks public interest justification, but is also a malicious act that humiliates human dignity and makes a mockery of the viewing public.

To correct the police's biased perceptions regarding the principle of non-disclosure of investigations, our foundation, together with the Police Reform Alliance, the Citizen Coalition for Media Reform, and other social movement organizations from various sectors, is jointly holding this press conference to call on the police to value human rights and strictly comply with Article 245, Paragraph 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the "Directions for Handling News Regarding Criminal Cases Investigated by Prosecutors, Police, and Investigation Authorities." At the same time, we will also urge legislators to pay attention to this issue and jointly urge the police to become guardians of the people who abide by the law and respect human rights.

In addition, given that media outlets jumped the gun during the Lin Ming-hua (林明樺) kidnapping syndicate case, endangering the safety of hostages, media reform groups such as the Association of Taiwan Journalists (台灣新聞記者協會), Media Watch Foundation (台灣媒體觀察教育基金會), Media Reform (媒體改造學社), the Citizen Coalition for Media Reform, the Judicial Reform Foundation, and the Taiwan Association for Human Rights have jointly initiated a campaign to sign the "Convention on Kidnapping News Reporting and Interviewing." This is also in line with the purpose of the principle of non-publicity of investigation, and we hope the police can also sign and comply with it alongside the media.

Organizing Groups

Police Reform Alliance: Attorney Ma Chai-chin (馬在勤) (Convener)
Judicial Reform Foundation: Attorney Kao Yong-cheng (高涌誠) (CEO)
Prosecutors Reform Association: Prosecutor Lin Zai-pei (林在培)
Awakening Foundation: Director Huang Chia-yun (黃嘉韻)
Gender/Sexuality Rights Association in Taiwan: Secretary-General Wang Ping (王蘋)
Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association: Director Wu Hsu-liang (巫緒樑)
Taiwan Association for Human Rights: Legal Director Chen Ti-chien
GLPC (Taiwan's Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus): Founder Chen Ching-hsueh (陳敬學)
Association of Taiwan Journalists: President Lu Tung-hsi (呂東熹)
Taiwan Alliance for Advancement of Youth Rights and Welfare: Social Worker Hung Hsiao-ping (洪曉萍)
Taipei Warm Life Association for Women: Director-General Hsu Wen-ching (許文青)

All of the above groups are members of either the Police Reform Alliance or the Citizen Coalition for Media Reform.