Zero-Growth Crime Rate—The Emperor's New Clothes

Three months ago, Minister Yu made a bold pledge requiring the crime rate to show zero growth over the next three months, risking his official position as a guarantee. Upon hearing this, the author knew that frontline police officers across the country would once again suffer from severe stress. When the minister coughs, the cascading pressures from bureaucratic layers create an impact on frontline officers greater than SARS. It is not that zero growth is an impossible mission, nor is it an attempt to disparage the minister's ambitions for a major leap in public security. Rather, the minister's official hat is simply too heavy a burden for the police, and the task assigned by the minister cannot be achieved by police efforts alone.

Since its inception, the Taiwan Association for Police Reform (TAPR) has deeply detested and repeatedly cried out against politicians who habitually beautify statistics to gloss over public security, thereby squeezing the operational space and professional policy-making of the police. Minister Chang Po-ya listened back then; she confronted the issue of concealed cases and even traded non-punishment for the presentation of true data, because failing to face problems means failing to solve them. At that time, police officers spent a period accepting reports without pressure, guarding public security with their consciences. However, good times do not last. Seeking political achievements, Minister Yu re-enacted the old tactics of Ministers Huang Chu-wen and Lin Yang-kang in declaring the eradication of bandits. Over the past three months, the police have been thrown into chaos and the public has been grumbling, yet the minister remains self-satisfied, acting like a laughingstock wearing the "Emperor's New Clothes."

First, high-ranking officials of the National Police Agency, too cowardly to dissuade the minister from non-professional policies that distort police duties, can be considered accomplices who place the minister in an unjust position. What breaks the author's heart even more is that, although we clearly hold information indicating that frontline officers have concealed cases due to unbearable pressure from superiors, we cannot publicly denounce the flaws in the minister's zero-growth policy. This is because the minister has long arranged a "zero-risk resignation" policy: "severe punishment for concealing cases." The moment a concealed case is discovered, subordinates are disciplined with "resolute amputation." That is to say, even if fabricated data is discovered, it is not the minister's fault, and he need not resign. Caught between severe punishment (for concealing cases) and heavy pressure (zero growth), frontline officers are reduced to a "nano-sized sandwich" (under infinite pressure), and their perfunctory and deceptive attitudes when citizens come to report crimes can well be imagined. The author hesitates to expose these malpractices due to fear of the consequences, leaving us in a dilemma.

Nevertheless, observing the public and media skepticism or scornful rebukes regarding the zero-growth policy in recent days, the author is ultimately filled with hope. At the very least, it shows that the calls made over the years by TAPR and various sectors have awakened public awareness. Whether public security is good depends on personal experience; good public security requires not only police officers who catch thieves, but also indispensable matching measures, such as legal education and the shaping of a better macro-environment like the economy. We must no longer listen to politicians' public security statistics, nor believe that policies of fooling the public and police—reminiscent of the emperor's new clothes—can protect the official caps of heads of agencies. Such policies must cease. We earnestly request today's Minister Yu and future Ministers of the Interior to take heed and learn their lesson: do not force the police to become thieves or swindlers, and please return professional investigative space to the police!!

※ Published in: The Liberty Times