Misplaced Police Force Structure and Deficient Scientific Investigation Capabilities: Budget Evaluation Opinions on the National Police Agency for the Second Half of FY 1988 and FY 1989

1. Security Police Account for 52% of Police Expenditures, While 'Riot Police' Budget Accounts for 42%: A Severely Distorted Police Force Structure

Security police-related expenses have consistently accounted for the largest share of the police administration budget, totaling NT$15,391,414 thousand, or 52% of total police expenditures. Meanwhile, expenditures for the First, Fourth, and Fifth Special Police Corps—which specialize in handling social movements, commonly known as 'riot police'—total NT$12,526,487 thousand, representing 81% of the security police budget and 42% of the entire police administration budget, clearly illustrating a severe distortion in the police force structure (see Table 1). The police administration budget's understanding of 'public safety' appears stuck in the backward concept of dealing with 'rioters,' leading to budget allocations concentrated on security and riot police rather than the detection and prevention of criminal offenses. Little wonder that public safety is daily deteriorating, leaving the police scrambling to catch up with crime rates and unable to win public confidence!

Furthermore, according to a resolution previously adopted at the plenary session in 1987: 'The National Police Agency shall, within two years and in phased stages, train personnel from the First, Fourth, and Fifth Special Police Corps, weed out those with poor conduct or incompetence, and after retraining, reassign them to local police establishments to invest in grassroots public safety work. A community policing system shall also be established to maintain community safety and improve public order.' This is also corroborated by a 1998 special report by the Control Yuan, which noted that aside from the Seventh Special Police Corps (which was restructured into the Marine Police Bureau), the staffing quotas of the security police were largely underutilized. Upon reviewing the current budget bill, it is evident that aside from a reduction of 701 personnel in the First Special Police Corps, the budgeted personnel counts for the Fourth and Fifth Special Police Corps have instead increased by a combined 175 personnel since 1987 (see Table 2). Far from being significantly downsized or transferred to grassroots and community units, they have engaged in 'counter-trend operations' contrary to social demands!

The National Police Agency should directly disband the First, Fourth, and Fifth Special Police Corps, sever employment ties with unqualified personnel, and transfer their manpower to local grassroots units. However, strict quality controls must be implemented regarding police officers, otherwise this may not only fail to strengthen local investigative capabilities but instead create new local 'malicious influences.'

Table 1: Riot Police Budget Analysis

Unit	Scope of Work	Second Half of FY 1988 & FY 1989		FY 1988-1989 Annualized Budget (Average of 12 Months)	FY 1988 Statutory Budget		Increase/Decrease of Annualized FY 1988-1989 vs. FY 1988
		Budgeted Personnel (Persons)	Budget (NT$ Thousand)		Budgeted Personnel (Persons)	Statutory Budget Amount (NT$ Thousand)	Budgeted Personnel (Persons)	Budget (NT$ Thousand)
First Special Police Corps	Handling assemblies and parades	6,032	8,139,477	5,426,318	6,733	5,683,357	-701	-257,039
Fourth Special Police Corps	Maintaining crowd event order	3,609	4,887,978,	3,258,652	3,609	3,298,769	0	-40,117
Fifth Special Police Corps	Handling general crowd events	4,353	5,762,276	3,841,517	4,353	3,833,838	0	7,679
Total	--	13,994	18,789,731	12,526,487	14,695	12,815,964	--	-289,477
Total Police Administration Expenditures	--	23,837	44,677,285	29,784,856	23,907	32,672,553	--	5,236,303
Proportion of Police Expenditures	--	59％	42％	42％	61％	39％	--	6％

Table 2: Budgeted Personnel of the National Police Agency and Affiliated Organs

Fiscal Year	Second Half of FY 1988 & FY 1989 (18 Months)	FY 1988	FY 1987
National Police Agency	594	594	408
Bureau of Entry and Exit	756	756	416
National Highway Police Bureau	1,144	1,148	958
Criminal Investigation Bureau	770	771	613
Airborne Police Corps	112	113	84
National Park Police Corps	239	0	0
First Special Police Corps	6,032	6,733	6,543
Third Special Police Corps	1,273	1,356	1,311
Fourth Special Police Corps	3,609	3,609	3,526
Fifth Special Police Corps	4,353	4,353	4,261
Sixth Special Police Corps	1,795	1,801	1,778
Marine Police Bureau	2,131	1,644	1,495
Central Police University	564	564	508
Taiwan Police College	465	465	370
Total	23,837	23,907	22,271

2. Administrative Police Account for 43.58% and Criminal Investigation Police Account for 7.07%: How Easy Can It Be to Maintain Public Order?!

The criminal case clearance rate has declined year by year (see Table 3). Aside from new criminal methods evolving in response to changing societal conditions, a more important factor is that the police's scientific investigation training and scientific detection equipment lag far behind criminals. Therefore, failing to strengthen police officers' concepts of scientific investigation and systematically enhance police scientific investigation skills will not only prevent the police from grasping critical breakthroughs in major criminal cases, resulting in a general loss of public confidence in the police's maintenance of public order, but will also erode the police's own confidence in maintaining order. It may even lead to repeated occurrences of extracting confessions through torture and incriminating suspects via confessions, creating miscarriages of justice, or blunders such as losing crucial evidence and forfeiting the opportunity to solve cases.

(Regarding the strengthening of scientific investigation capabilities, please refer to the attachment 'Position Paper on Establishing a Comprehensive Forensic Center')

On the other hand, the disproportion between administrative police and criminal police (the former numbering nearly six times the latter) demonstrates that the management efficiency of the police system warrants review; otherwise, how could a massive amount of manpower be concentrated on administrative affairs while major public order work rests on the shoulders of a minority of police forces?

Table 3: Statistics on Cases Handled by Police Agencies Over the Past Five Years (Unit: Cases)

Fiscal Year	1998	1997	1996	1995	1994
Criminal Cases	204,220	202,465	199,641	170,264	121,523
Clearance Rate (%)	64.56	65.17	65.42	66.49	89.90
Violent Cases	12,687	13,648	16,827	16,489	7,688
Number of Juvenile Suspects Apprehended	23,144	24,766	29,680	29,287	28,378
Number of Drug Suspects Apprehended	5,422	10,045	8,458	8,394	16,145
Intellectual Property Infringement Cases	1,848	1,680	1,639	1,534	1,454
Social Order Maintenance Act Violation Cases	10,894	13,406	15,489	17,841	20,322
Number of Assemblies and Parades Occurred	7,808	4,152	3,577	6,678	11,294

3. Inappropriate Manpower Allocation Among Administrative, Criminal, and Security Police:

Referring to the 'Special Investigation Report on Deteriorating Public Order' conducted by the Control Yuan on July 15, 1998, the budgeted personnel figures for criminal police provided by the Ministry of the Interior's National Police Agency show a total of 80,197 budgeted personnel across police agencies in the Taiwan region. Among them, administrative police numbered 42,309 (accounting for 52.8%), security police 14,239 (17.8%), professional police 7,676 (9.6%), criminal police engaged in detection and defense 6,148 (accounting for only 7.7%), traffic police 5,480 (6.8%), fire police 4,320 (5.4%), and civil defense police 21 (0.001%).

A re-survey at the end of February 1999 showed that criminal police dropped unexpectedly to 7.07%, with administrative police holding the highest proportion, security police ranking second, and criminal police falling to fourth place. With such a low proportion, how can criminal detection and defense be strengthened? (See Table 4)

Table 4: Personnel and Proportions of Various Police Forces (Based on Data as of Late February 1999)

Item	Personnel	Proportion (%)
Administrative Police	36,269	43.58
Security Police	18,487	22.21
Professional Police	13,355	16.05
Criminal Police	5,886	7.07
Traffic Police	4,948	5.94
Fire Police	4,180	5.02
Civil Defense Police	107	0.1
Total	83,232	100.00

4. Resources Concentrated at the Center, While Local Demands Remain Urgent

Over the years, anti-gang and anti-prostitution campaigns have created an atmosphere of tension, revealing a clear insufficiency in local police forces and an increasingly urgent demand for manpower. Aside from a few large counties and cities (Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Taipei County), the budgeted personnel numbers for local county and city governments all fall below 3,000 personnel. Confronted with vast jurisdictions and a low proportion of criminal police, local forces are markedly inadequate compared to the central police (see Table 5). Moreover, the budgeted personnel counts for various counties and cities showed no changes in FY 1997 and FY 1987 [sic], making them fundamentally incapable of absorbing the surging volume of social incidents. Similarly, local police budgets failed to increase in response to societal demands, and even saw reductions in FY 1998 (see Table 6).

As noted above, while failing to reflect the increasingly severe deterioration of local public order on one hand, local resources pale in comparison to the central police administration budget on the other: the central budget grew annually from FY 1996 to FY 1999 (using FY 1996 as a baseline: 100%), even surging by 10% in FY 1999. The affluence of the central government further highlights the financial poverty of local governments, leaving them unable to sustain local police administration needs. With local authorities lacking both manpower and funds, how can they sustain actual requirements? It is little wonder that local police bureaus covering up cases has become a severe and normalized phenomenon in local policing!

Table 5: Comparison Table of Central Budgeted Personnel and Local Police Force (Annual July) Budgeted Personnel (Unit: Persons)

Item	FY 1996	FY 1997	FY 1987	FY 1999 (Feb)	FY 1988-1989
National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior & Affiliated Organs	22,709	22,656	22,271	27,634	23,837
Counties in Taiwan Province	28,155	40,355	40,573	46,757	Budgeting not yet completed
Taipei City Government Police Department	5,189	7,964	7,862	7,862
Kaohsiung City Government Police Department	2,255	3,610	3,610	3,610
Kinmen and Lienchiang County Police Bureaus	155	176	174	369
Total	35,754	52,105	52,219	58,598

※Note: Due to the passage of the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures, the central and local governments have not yet completed coordination on related matters; hence, local authorities have not yet managed to compile the budget estimates for the second half of FY 1988 and FY 1989.

Table 6: Comparison of Central Budgeted Personnel and Local Police Force Budget Amounts (Unit: NT$ Thousand)

Fiscal Year	Second Half of FY 1988 & FY 1989 (18 Months)	FY 1988-1989 (12-Month Average)	FY 1988	FY 1987	FY 1986	FY 1996
Item	Budget Amount	Annualized Budget Amount	Budget Amount	Final Account Amount	Final Account Amount	Final Account Amount
National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior & Affiliated Organs	44,677,285	29,784,856 124%	32,672,553 126%	25,777,863 108%	24,687,061 103%	23,897,638 100%
County and City Police Bureaus in Taiwan Province	Budgeting not yet completed	Budgeting not yet completed	Vacant	42,083,649 101%	45,102,710 108%	41,603,858 100%

※Note 1: Due to the passage of the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures, central and local governments have not yet completed coordination on related matters; hence local authorities have not yet managed to compile the budget estimates for the second half of FY 1988 and FY 1989.
※Note 2: The Central Government's budget for the second half of FY 1988 and FY 1989 does not include budgeted subsidies to local governments for police administration expenses.
※Note 3: This table is compiled based on the final account reports of police bureaus across counties and cities in Taiwan Province, wherein the final account figures from FY 1996 to FY 1987 include centrally integrated funds.

5. Rewards for Solving Cases Flying Everywhere: Have Cases Actually Been Solved?

Various types of bonuses and rewards permeate the budget, totaling an astonishing NT$324,180 thousand. Television news repeatedly broadcasts police officers joyfully announcing case breakthroughs, prominently featured and publicized by the media. However, whether these cases are ultimately prosecuted by prosecutors, or returned due to insufficient evidence, or whether convictions are secured following prosecution, or whether the suspects are entirely innocent and acquitted—none of this is evaluated when the police issue these rewards. Consequently, regardless of evidentiary sufficiency, suspects are frequently publicly denounced by the media, creating 'trial by public opinion' that violates criminal human rights and the meaning of the 'presumption of innocence.' Even if courts subsequently clear their names, suspects find it impossible to establish a foothold in society.

Therefore, issuance criteria for case-solving rewards should be newly established, stipulating that they be disbursed at least after prosecution by the prosecutor's office, and if an acquittal is ultimately finalized, penalties should be reflected in performance evaluations to avoid triggering another 'Wang Ying-hsien murder case' in the pursuit of rapid case resolution!

Table 7: Incentive Reward Budget Amount and Proportion

Unit	Incentive Reward Budget Amount	Police Administration Personnel Expense Budget	Proportion Compared to Personnel Expenses
National Police Agency Headquarters	230,952	801,718	29%
Criminal Investigation Bureau	289,754	500,807	58%
Other Units	34,426	--	--
Total	324,180	--	--