National Police Agency (Taiwan)
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National Police Agency 警政署 Jǐngzhèng Shǔ (Mandarin) Kín-chṳn-su (Hakka) | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | NPA |
Agency overview | |
Formed | 5 July 1972 |
Preceding agency |
|
Employees | 73,727 |
Jurisdictional structure | |
National agency (Operations jurisdiction) | Republic of China (Taiwan) |
Operations jurisdiction | Republic of China (Taiwan) |
Legal jurisdiction | Free area of the Republic of China |
Operational structure | |
Headquarters | Zhongzheng, Taipei |
Agency executives |
|
Parent agency | Ministry of the Interior |
Website | |
Official website |
The National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior (NPA; Chinese: 內政部警政署; pinyin: Nèizhèngbù Jǐngzhèngshǔ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Luē-chèng-pō͘ Kéng-chèng-sú) is an agency under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The agency oversees all police forces on a national level, and is headquartered in Taipei.
Police organization and structure
Hierarchy
Most actual law enforcement and day-to-day policing duties are delegated to local police departments on a
Unlike
One exception is the President of the Central Police University, who is directly subordinate to the Minister of the Interior, and is not subject to the NPA personnel review board.
-
- National Police Agency
- NPA Units/City and County Police Departments (縣市警察局)
- Precinct/Division/Squad
- Station
- Beat
NPA Units
In addition to its own internal administrative offices, the NPA has direct control over the following units and agencies:
Criminal Investigation Bureau
The
- Crime Prevention and Detection Command Center: Code-named Telephone Extension Number 8[3].
- Crime Prevention Section
- Crime Investigation Section
- Anti-Hoodlum Section
- Laws & Regulations Research Section
- Criminal Records Section
- International Criminal Affairs Section
- INTERPOL Radio Center
- Research & Development Office
- Public Relations Office
- Logistics Section
- Secretariat
- Internal Affairs Office
- Public Security Office
- Personnel Office
- Accounting Office
There are also nine active field police squads[4]
- 1st brigade: Homicide and unregistered weapons.
- 2nd brigade: Robbery and sex-related crimes.
- 3rd brigade: Controlled substances and organized crime.
- 4th brigade: Burglary, kidnapping and blackmail.
- 5th brigade: Bombs Disposal and Investigation.
- 6th and 8th brigades: Rapid reaction units in central and southern Taiwan.
- 7th brigade: Financial crimes.
- 9th brigade: Cybercrimes.
Two task-force-grouped centers include:[4]
- Forensic Science Center:
- Forensic Section(Criminalistics Office): The Emeritus consultant is Henry Chang-Yu Lee, Ph.D., in Connecticut, United States.
- Forensic Biology Office(Medical Examiner Office): The Emeritus consultant is Yang Zi-song(zh:楊日松), M.D., retired.
- Fingerprint Office
- Forensic Section(Criminalistics Office): The Emeritus consultant is
- High-Technology Crime Prevention Center:[5] It formed on April 6th, 2006.
- 9th brigade
- Electronic surveillance and monitoring center (on cellular telephone networks in private corporations, such as FET)
- Information management office
Special Operations Group (SOG)
There are 7 individual Special Operations Groups, literally "Special Police Crops"(保安警察隊). These are mobile, rapid deployment police forces. They also execute various sentry duties and serve as a pool of reserve formations for police manpower.
Three task-force-grouped SWAT units (referred to as Peace Enforcing Special Service Forces or "Wei-An" Forces(
The First Corps
A training base for courses of on-the-job training and mobile task force.
- Corps Headquarters, 2nd, 3rd, 4th brigades, and one "Wei-An" Forces, are stationed in Si-pai, Taipei City.
- "Wei-an" Forces: Formed in June 1992. Its mission specialties are counter-terrorism, high-profile hostage rescues, and presidential protection. These forces are composed of SWAT units divided into two companies, which are supported by the 3rd brigade.
- "Wei-an" Forces: Formed in June 1992. Its mission specialties are
- 1st and 5th brigades are stationed in Sanxia District, New Taipei City.
- The 6th brigade is stationed in Taoyuan City.
The Second Corps
There are 4 brigades commended by the
- The first brigade is especially tasked for the copyright protection and the enforcement of counterfeit and infringement in related to intellectual property. It is usually code-named as Intellectual Property Protection Brigade.
- The 2nd is to guard three nuclear power plants (Nuclear No.1, No.2, and No.4) of Taiwan Power Company in New Taipei City.
- The 3rd is in northern Taiwan for the security duty of two Science Parks in National Science Council, and the other industrial parks, import-export districts, and certain government installations of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
- The 4th is in southern Taiwan for the security duty of all governmental business installations under the National Science Council and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which includes one nuclear power plant: "Nuclear No.3."
The Third Corps
It is a part of border police and provides supportive and supplemental duty of
The Fourth Corps
- "Wei-an" Forces: In March 2003, two more task force-sized SWAT groups of "Wei-an" Forces were formed. One of them is attached to the 4th Special Police Corps in Taichung, which is located in central Taiwan.
The Fifth Corps
- "Wei-an" Forces: In March 2003, two task-force SWAT groups were formed. One is attached to the 5th Special Police Corps in southern Taiwan.
The Sixth Corps
Responsible for the physical security of central government buildings, high-ranking civilian officials, foreign embassies, and liaison institutes.
The Seventh Corps
The Seventh Special Police Corps, 7SPC, was established on January 1, 2014, aiming to solve the growing problems of nature reservation, environment protection and forest and National Parks guarding. The design of 7SPC is close to National Parks rangers in USA, who are officials employed by government to provide law and order (often against poaching). Their duties are originally confined to seeing that the Forest Law, National Parks Law and Environment Protection Law and so on.
Taiwan Special Police Corps
There are 6 Special Police Brigades inherited from the late Taiwan Provincial Police Administration.
- The first 3 brigades are for the security duty of 3 governmental financial banks: Taiwan Land Bank, Taiwan Cooperative Bank, and Bank of Taiwan.
- The 4th is to guard the government installations related to the late Taiwan Province.
- The 5th and 6th are attached to Water Resources Agency (水利署), Ministry of Economic Affairs to protect the water supply and water-and-land-related environmental cases.
Civil Defense Force
The Civil Defense Force (民防防情指揮管制所) is administered by the NPA.[8]
Other NPA Units
The Immigration Bureau (入出境管理局) was removed from NPA and reorganized as the National Immigration Agency on 2 January 2007.
- national highways.
- Harbor Police Offices (港務警察局): Part of border police in Taiwan. There are 4 separate offices with jurisdictions over the ports of Keelung, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Hualien.
- Railway Police Bureau (鐵路警察局): Jurisdiction over stations and facilities of Taiwan Railway Administration since 1949 and Taiwan High Speed Railsince 26 December 2006.
- The 1st section: facilities of TRA, north of Taichungin western Taiwan
- The 2nd section: facilities of TRA, south of Taichungin western Taiwan
- The 3rd section: facilities of TRAin eastern Taiwan
- The THSR section: facilities of THSR
- Aviation Police Bureau (航空警察局): The Airport police is a part of border police and responsible for safeguarding, traffic administration, crime investigation, documents inspection, security examination etc. at local civil airports in the ROC. Its headquarters is at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
- National Park Police Corps (國家公園警察大隊): Jurisdiction over the national parks, specialization in search and rescueoperations.
- Taiwan Police College
- Police Armory (警察機械修理廠)
- Police Telecommunications Office (警察電訊所)
- Police Radio Station (警察廣播電臺): A government public radio station run by civilians. It broadcasts regular radio show programs, news, and real-time traffic situations.
Task-Force Formations under NPA
By separate decrees of The Executive Yuan, three task-force formations, each consisted of roughly a couple of hundreds police officers with different specialty, are formed under the National Police Agency but attached to two cabinet-level institutions or other units.
- Telecommunication Police Corps (電信警察隊): In January 1998, a task force called the "Telecommunication Police Corps" was formed and attached to the National Communication Commission. Its job is to enforce laws concerning the radio spectrum and telecommunications.
- Environmental Protection Police Corps (環保警察隊): It was formed in 1999 and is attached to the Fongshan Cityin Northern, Central and Southern Taiwan, respectively.
- Forest & Nature Conservation Police Unit (森林暨自然保育警察隊): This was formed with 178 policemen on 1 July 2004 by the decree of the Taipei City, there are 8 squadrons in Taiwan mountain area. Its main task is to support the forest patrolmen to preserve and protect the ecology system and all historic monuments in all the forests in Taiwan.
Ranks
Rank insignias are worn over the right breast pocket when in uniform. The rank system of the National Police Agency is as follows:[9][10]
Before 1999, the lowest-grade street policemen held the rank of Police Officer II, denoted by an insignia of two stars on one horizontal bar, sometimes referred to colloquially as "一毛二" or "one dime and two cents." On 3 March 1999, an adjustment of "the table of police positions and corresponding ranks" or "各級警察機關學校警察官職務配階表", from the Ministry of Interior resulted in regular policemen or women on street holding the rank of Senior Police Officer, denoted by "three stars on one horizontal bar", nicknamed "一毛三" or "one dime and three cents."[11][12]
To emphasize the independence of the ranks and the professions, the rank of ROC police may not perfectly match their positions in a station. In 2007, a highest rank above Police Supervisor Rank 1 is created for the highest position, Police General, who is in charge of and oversees the public safety of the entire nation.[13]
History
The current police service in Taiwan traces its roots back to police forces established in Taiwan during Japanese colonial rule, as well as police services established in mainland China during the early 20th century.[3]
The ROC's law enforcement system built upon the foundations laid down during the
In 1972, to streamline organizational costs, the National Police Department was merged with the Taiwan Police Administration to form the new National Police Agency (NPA).[14]
The first 4 Directors-General of NPA, between 1972 and 1990, were active general officers transferred from Army or Marine Corps:
- Chou Ju-cun (周菊村), between 1972 and 1976;
- Kong Ling-Cheng (zh:孔令晟), between 1976 and June 1980;
- Ho En-ting (何恩廷), between June 1980 and 1 August 1984;
- Luo Chang (羅張),[15] between 1 August 1984 and 4 August 1990.
The latter three even served as two-star Marine Corps Commandants.
Secret police organizations
Historically speaking, in Taiwan, unlike Special Higher Police (
The Taiwan police system at that time only played as a supportive role, like performing frequent surveillance,
The typical secret-police example of the involvement from several security units is
Post-Martial Law era reforms
In 1990, Chuang Heng-dai (莊亨岱), by then the Commissioner of Railway Police Bureau, became the first career police officer with the background of a criminal investigator to take over the chief of NPA. Since then, all the successive directors-general of NPA are promoted from career police officers in active duty within the Taiwan police system.[17]
The Taiwan Provincial Police Administration was again separated from the NPA in 1995 with the implementation of local autonomy statutes in the
In 1999, with the downsizing of the provincial level of government, the Taiwan Provincial Police Administration was dissolved and its personnel and responsibilities were once again transferred to the National Police Agency.[14]
An increase in crime and liberalization of the mass media in the 1990s led to many questions concerning the effectiveness of the police force in investigating and fighting crime, as opposed to its prior concentration on crowd and riot control, a carryover from the martial law era.
Recent years
With increased media coverage in recent years and the proliferation of tabloid newspapers and 24-hour cable news channels throughout Taiwan, the police force has been faced with new challenges involving high-profile crimes, and increased media involvement.[18] Past concerns of police corruption have largely been replaced by concerns of police ineffectiveness, particularly in light of several high-profile cases in recent years. Gun related crime has also increased, though the overall crime rate in Taiwan remains lower than that of most western and Asian nations.
On 22 July 2000, four workers carrying out riverbed construction work in the
- The Airborne Squadron of National Police Agency,
- The Preparatory Office of the Airborne Fire Fighting Squadron of National Fire Agency,
- The Aviation Team of Civil Aeronautics Administration of Ministry of Transportation and Communications,
- The Air Patrol Squadron of the Coast Guard Administration.
NASC takes over the responsibilities of five major airborne tasks:Search and Rescue, Disaster Relief, Emergency Medical Services, Reconnaissance and Patrol, and Transportation.
On 26 July 2004, members of the Criminal Investigation Bureau engaged in what was arguably the largest gun battle in the history of modern Taiwan with members of a kidnapping gang in
On 28 February 2006,
On 2 Jan 2007, according to "the Organic Law of the National Immigration Agency" enacted on 30 Nov 2005, the NPA's former Immigration Office was expanded to become the National Immigration Agency under the direct control of the Ministry of the Interior, and Wu Cheng-chi (吳振吉) was named the first director general of NIA.
Other duties
In addition to normal law enforcement duties, police in the ROC are charged with other slightly more unusual duties such as taking census data, as well as immigration and visa related issues.[23] Most jurisdictions also have a Foreign Affairs squad staffed by English speaking officers tasked with visa enforcement and issues relating to foreigners or the foreign community in Taiwan.
Interdepartmental cooperation
Bureau of Investigation
Regarding drugs, corruptions, espionage, and economic crimes, the Investigative Bureau of Ministry of Justice (MJIB) has developed stronger capability to cover cases in those categories for decades. The investigation of these cases, police corruption included, are usually transferred to or led by the Bureau of Investigation.
MJIB officers are equipped with a strong laboratory-testing capacity regarding controlled substances. This gives a necessary advantage and training for the investigators of MJIB. However, the police forces in the ROC still maintain several active drug enforcement squads at the local police departments and the Criminal Investigation Bureau of NPA.
Historically, counter-intelligence affairs are under the turf of MJIB. Different from "
A few years ago, high-ranking police officials tried to develop the strength of investigating white-collar crimes in the ROC police system but gained unnoticed progress. The MJIB is still in the lead position of cracking economic crimes or money-laundry. However, the Criminal Investigation Bureau of NPA has built fair reputation on copyright protection and the safety of computers and networks. Also, regarding the copyright issue, the 1st brigade of the 2nd special police corps is especially tasked for the enforcement related to intellectual property.
Military Police
According to the "Law of the dispatching of Judicial Police Personnel," military police can deal with civilian affairs under the supervision of the public prosecutor(s) from all court prosecutors' offices at all levels under the Ministry of Justice. Sometimes public prosecutors will direct military police to handle large-scale searches or arrests when investigating cases of police-related crimes, prostitution, or fugitive recovery.[24]
Regarding
- Northern Taiwan: Military Police Special Service Company (MPSSC, Code Name: Night Hawk), Military Police Command.
- Central Taiwan: Special Warfare Special Service Company, Aviation, Airborne and Special Warfare Command of the Republic of China Army.
- Southern Taiwan: Marine Special Service Company, Marine Corps Command of the Republic of China Navy.
These three are tasked to handle combat situations involving international terrorists, mercenary or para-military criminals. Bound by laws, currently only
Coast Guard
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Fire Brigades
Taiwan Firemen were a part of the Taiwan Police before 1995. At that time, the Fire Policemen were not the most favorite people in the eyes of certain police chiefs. The most extreme case was in
It is worth to point out that Yao Kao-Chiao was the Directors-General of
Also, in Taiwan, another contradiction was the radio call signs for the fire trucks or rescue vehicles. For reasons to avoid unwanted attentions and to remain secrecy, all radio call signs for all police vehicles were uncorrelated with the missions of the subject vehicles, unnecessarily including fire trucks, rescue vehicles, and ambulances of fire brigades. When fire police teams were responding to an emergency situation, these confusing call signs inevitably led to chaos and time delay. A successful fire chief, Chao Kang (趙鋼),[27] convinced the police high command to rearrange the radio call sign assignment for all fire vehicles. Chao Kang then was appointed as the Commissioner of Taiwan Provincial Fire Administration, and the Director-General of National Fire Agency from 10 September 2000 to September 2002.
Auxiliary Police
The Auxiliary Police (Traditional Chinese:義勇警察) is an auxiliary organization that civil voluntarily join to support the police and perform civil defense tasks.[28] Although the auxiliary police do not have a standard rank insignia, the Taipei City auxiliary Police has adopted a non-standard rank insignias with modified colors based on the current police rank insignias.[29]
See also
References
- ^ 明遠 (2001-02-16). 職位調動因人而異 拉警報 (in Chinese). New Taiwan News Weekly. Archived from the original on 2007-05-10. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
- ^ "National Police Administration - Taiwan Intelligence and Security Agencies". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2006-03-08.
- ^ a b c d 張瑞楨 (2005-05-10). 大搜察線 (in Chinese). The Liberty Times. Archived from the original on 2006-12-14. Retrieved 2007-01-13.
- ^ a b "CIB, NPA, MOI". Criminal Investigation Bureau, National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior (in Chinese). Retrieved 2008-05-25.
- ^ 陳一雄 (2006-04-07). "Li Xiangchen becomes the Director of the Technological Crime Prevention Center" 科技犯罪防制中心掛牌 李相臣接主任 (in Chinese). United Daily News. Archived from the original on August 1, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ 張協昇 (2006-01-31). 魔鬼藍衫軍 彈雨中穿梭 (in Chinese). The Liberty Times. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
- ^ a b Kennedy, Mark (2004-10-24). "Getting away with murder". The Taipei Times. p. 17. Retrieved 2007-01-16.
- ^ WU, HUIZHONG. "Military reserves, civil defense worry Taiwan as China looms". abcnews.go.com. ABC News. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
- ^ National Police Agency
- ^ "National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior". www.npa.gov.tw. Archived from the original on 2 February 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
- ^ 公務人員保障暨培訓委員會再申訴決定書. 90公申決字第0064 號 (in Chinese). 2001. Retrieved 2007-01-16.[permanent dead link]
- ^ 淺識警大與警察生涯發展 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2007-03-11. Retrieved 2007-01-16.
- ^ (in Chinese) Act of Police Personnel [警察人員人事條例]
- ^ a b c "History". National Police Agency, ROC Ministry of the Interior. 2008-03-28. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
- ^ 黃建華 (2006-04-24). 前警署長羅張 靈柩覆國旗 警軍高階首長 送最後一程 (in Chinese). The Liberty Times. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
- ^ Peng, Ming-min (January 1972). "Surveillance". A TASTE OF FREEDOM. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
- ^ 趙靜瑜 (2001-06-14). 警察故事 道出警徽下的功績與孤獨 (in Chinese). The Liberty Times. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
- ^ Lin, Jean (2006-02-28). "MOI details new rules on media access to airport". The Taipei Times. p. 2.
- ^ Jou, Ying-cheng (2000-07-24). "Outrage over river tragedy". The Taipei Times. p. 1.
- ^ Chuang, Jimmy (2005-07-14). "Dreaded gangster caught after gunfight". The Taipei Times. p. 1. Retrieved 2007-01-16.
- ^ "Hou Yu-ih becomes youngest-ever NPA director-general". The Taipei Times. 2006-02-28. p. 3.
- ^ "Taipei police chief to head NPA". China Post. 2008-05-10. p. 1.
- ^ "Regulations Governing the Inspection and Registration of Alien's Residence or Permanent Residence". National Police Agency, ROC Ministry of the Interior. Archived from the original on February 12, 2006. Retrieved 2006-03-08. "The inspection and registration affairs as prescribed in these Regulations shall be planned by the National Police Agency (NPA) of the Ministry of the Interior, and executed by city or county (city) police under the supervision of the NPA before the Bureau of Immigration of the Ministry of the Interior is established."
- ^ 許紹軒 (2005-02-25). 憲調組 四月起併入憲兵隊 (in Chinese). The Liberty Times. p. 11. Archived from the original on 2008-03-11. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
- ^ 陳宗逸 (2006-10-19). 陸軍狙擊兵 神祕曝光 (in Chinese). New Taiwan News Weekly. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2008-07-03.
- ^ 陳宗逸 (2008-07-03). 模擬機場攻台 中國準備好了? (in Chinese). New Taiwan News Weekly. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2008-07-03.
- ^ 王瑞德 (2002-09-14). 內政部一級主管大搬風 (in Chinese). The Liberty Times. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
- ^ "民防、義警、義交或村(里)社區守望相助巡守隊其任務如何區分?". 臺中市政府警察局第三分局全球資訊網. 臺中市政府警察局. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
- ^ "階級說明表". 臺北市義勇警察大隊. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
External links
- National Police Agency, MOI (in Chinese)
- National Police Administration from GlobalSecurity.org