When Police Officers, Suspects, and Citizens Are Forced to Become Actors: Police Production of "Love and Blood & Iron" Videos Violates Non-Publicity of Investigation Press Conference

The "Love and Blood & Iron" phenomenon originated with the Kaohsiung City Police Department, where police used body-worn camera footage, dashcam footage, and intersection surveillance footage to edit thrilling and exciting on-duty moments, paired with mocking police commentary. These videos were published on the police department's Facebook fan page, generating high view counts and prompting police departments across the country to follow suit.

However, these seemingly glamorous "Love and Blood & Iron" videos conceal numerous problems. Therefore, the Judicial Reform Foundation, along with active-duty police officers and the Police Rights Promotion Association, held a joint press conference at the Legislative Yuan today. In addition to playing two videos with over one million views that severely violated the non-publicity of investigations and releasing the "top five" police departments that use body-worn cameras to produce videos, the conference also questioned the Director-General of the National Police Agency, demanding an immediate halt to the police abuse of power in producing videos and taking the lead in violating the bad practice of the non-publicity of investigations!

1. Violating the Non-Publicity of Investigations, Infringing on the Presumption of Innocence and the Protection of Privacy

   In recent years, high-ranking police officials, driven by public relations needs or the desire for media exposure to project an image of "solving major cases," have demanded that subordinate officers provide on-duty footage with "news value." They edit body-worn camera footage, police dashcam footage, and intersection surveillance footage obtained during law enforcement into short videos and publish them on police Facebook fan pages. Because these videos contain scenes such as high-speed chases, gunfights, and drug searches, they repeatedly garner high view counts and have become a popular promotional option for police nationwide.

   However, footage obtained through police law enforcement involves the "non-publicity of investigations" and citizens' privacy, which are prohibited by law from being disclosed. Yet law enforcement officers are openly taking the lead in breaking the law. To sensationalize news and boost view counts, they publish videos for public viewing before indictments are issued (and sometimes even before cases are handed over to prosecutors), causing trial by public media and severely violating the principle of a fair trial.

   Although the videos pixelate the faces of the parties involved, they simultaneously expose a wealth of information, such as voices, body types, clothing, and vehicles. This allows friends and family who know the individuals to easily recognize them, and even subjects them to online doxxing, causing harm to their lives. Even if they are subsequently not prosecuted or are acquitted, they still cannot shake the label of a criminal.

   Furthermore, since these videos are records of investigating cases, other criminal accomplices can naturally use them to grasp the statements of the parties involved and the direction of the police investigation, allowing them to hide or collude on statements, which adversely affects subsequent police investigations into crimes. For the sake of public relations, the police disregard their mission of protecting human rights and maintaining public order, putting the cart before the horse, and this practice must be stopped immediately.

2. Selectively Disclosing Footage, Putting Rank-and-File Officers in Danger

   Under the "encouragement" of high-ranking police officials, producing videos has become a "performance metric." Rank-and-file officers may take more dangerous actions in pursuit of thrilling footage with news value. In the "Love and Blood & Iron" videos, there are instances where police officers crashed into and injured fellow officers during car chases. Media reports have also pointed out that when a Kaohsiung City Police Department officer was injured during a pursuit, the precinct immediately called to ask, "Did the body-worn camera capture it?" When the police transform themselves into the "media," chasing news footage suddenly becomes the primary task, while the personal safety of colleagues and the safety of the individuals involved are no longer prioritized.

   When the police become the media themselves, under the guise of helping the public understand the hardships of police work, they are actually brainwashing the public with videos. This is because the police will never publish footage of poor law enforcement attitudes, illegal arrests and searches, or operational blunders; they only selectively publish heroic footage that benefits them. If the case involves a crime, they are even more likely to edit out footage that is favorable to the suspect to avoid damaging the heroic image of the police punishing criminals. Once these videos fail to present the true facts of a case, they become tools for the police to whitewash themselves, causing the public to lose their ability to judge.

   Moreover, the police should enforce the law with a serious and cautious attitude, but these videos habitually use subtitles, animations, and sound effects to mock citizens, damaging the credibility of police officers as law enforcement agents.

   Lawbreakers must receive the legal punishment they deserve, but they have no obligation to have their identities exposed, their most wretched side revealed in front of friends and family, or to be subjected to public trial in front of the entire nation as dinnertime entertainment just to build up a heroic image for the police—especially when some individuals may be entirely innocent.

   The "Love and Blood & Iron" videos cover everything under the sun, from illegal parking and roadside interrogations to criminal investigations, all serving as material for these videos. If the police do not immediately halt this promotional tactic, any one of us could become an actor in the next "Love and Blood & Iron" video!

The "Top Five" Victims Speak Out, Precinct Chiefs Must Come Forward to Explain!

After the Kaohsiung City Government's "Love and Blood & Iron" series achieved success, the then-Director-General of the Kaohsiung City Police Department, Ch'en Chia-ch'in, was subsequently promoted to Director-General of the National Police Agency (NPA). Even the NPA's own fan page ("NPA署長室") began sharing similar videos. Under the "leadership" of the Director-General, the phenomenon of police editing videos from body-worn camera footage has blossomed everywhere.

However, even though the Kaohsiung City Police Department achieved success in terms of view counts for "Love and Blood & Iron," we must question whether public safety in Kaohsiung has actually improved. According to a 2017 first-half municipal quality and competitiveness survey report by University of Taipei, citizens ranking "very dissatisfied" placed Kaohsiung first, and overall public safety satisfaction ranked second to last among the six special municipalities. This method of video production sacrifices citizen privacy and officer safety while doing nothing to help social order. The only beneficiaries are likely the high-ranking police officials who enjoy high exposure and take credit for solving major cases.

We have tallied the precincts with the top five highest numbers of "Love and Blood & Iron" videos nationwide, and we are recruiting citizens whose rights have been infringed upon as a result to step forward and demand the removal of the videos and accountability from the police. Precinct chiefs should publicly explain whether they ordered subordinate officers to violate regulations such as the "Operational Guidelines for Non-Publicity of Investigations," the "Key Points for Handling News Regarding Criminal Cases Investigated by Prosecutors, Police, and Investigation Agencies," and the "Key Points for Preservation, Management, and Use of Audio and Video Data by Police Agencies When Performing Duties Involving Body-Worn Cameras," thereby leaking audio and visual data related to cases under investigation.

Five Questions for the NPA Director-General, Demanding the Immediate Cessation and Removal of "Love and Blood & Iron" Videos

Given that the "Love and Blood & Iron" phenomenon originated with the Kaohsiung City Police Department and subsequently sparked imitation by police departments everywhere, and that the police chief at the time has now become the current Director-General of the National Police Agency, we demand that the NPA Director-General specifically respond to the following questions and immediately order local precincts to cease and remove these "Love and Blood & Iron" videos:

1. What is the legal basis for the police producing videos using body-worn cameras, dashcams, and surveillance footage?
2. Do the videos produced by the police strictly comply with the Personal Data Protection Act, the Operational Guidelines for Non-Publicity of Investigations, the Key Points for Handling News Regarding Criminal Cases Investigated by Prosecutors, Police, and Investigation Agencies, and the Key Points for Preservation, Management, and Use of Audio and Video Data by Police Agencies When Performing Duties Involving Body-Worn Cameras?
3. Were the cases indicted at the time the police published the videos? What is the conviction rate for the cases after the videos were published?
4. Was the consent of the parties involved obtained prior to the public release of the videos? Were the parties notified after the videos were published?
5. When encountering protests from the parties involved, do the police departments provide a mechanism for video removal or clarification?

Finally, videos such as "Love and Blood & Iron," in addition to violating the principle of the non-publicity of investigations, illegally disclosing personal data of the parties involved, infringing upon the principle of the presumption of innocence, and violating the privacy of the parties, also lead rank-and-file officers to carry out their duties in high-risk ways in pursuit of footage. Furthermore, the selective release of law enforcement footage advantageous to the police distorts the truth and violates the principle of a fair trial. They must be stopped immediately!

Attendees

Shih Ming-chin / Active-Duty Police Officer
Hsiao Jen-hao / Board Member, Police Rights Promotion Association
Lin Yung-sung / Chairperson, Judicial Reform Foundation
Shih Hung-cheng / Convener of the Non-Publicity of Investigations Committee, Judicial Reform Foundation
Chen Yu-fan / Executive Director, Judicial Reform Foundation

Press Contact

Chen Yu-fan / Executive Director, Judicial Reform Foundation (02)2523-1178