http://twy.zhreader.com/2010/06/blog-post_3828.html
(Taiwan News Online) June 2, 2010
Two Taichung City police officers were disciplined after they were found in the presence of a suspected gangster when he was shot, reports said yesterday. The revelation comes at a bad time for Taichung City Mayor Jason Hu, at the start of a re-election bid when Taiwan's third largest town already has a reputation for a deteriorating law-and-order situation. The central government decided Monday to send 40 specially trained police officers to Taichung to ward off further gang attacks. Four police officers were playing mahjong with suspected gangster Weng Chi-nan and hid behind a tea table when he was shot last Friday, said Huang Kuo-shu, a Taichung City Councilor from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party.
Taichung police chief Hu Mu-yuan told Huang that a retired police officer had invited two other officers to drink tea together at a biotechnology company. The two officers did not know that Weng would also show up, while the two other officers were their drivers, Hu said. He denied they played mahjong and said they were not carrying their guns because the incident happened outside their working hours. Both senior officers received one demerit, while one was also demoted to a non-executive position and the other would retire as scheduled on Wednesday, Hu said. The two drivers only received a serious warning each because they were just following orders, he said. Even though the company office did not have a dubious reputation, police officers should avoid contacts with questionable individuals, Hu said.
The presence of the four policemen at Weng's killing came to light as investigators watched surveillance camera recordings of the scene, reports said. Mayor Hu told the Taichung City Council that police officers should not have contacts with criminal underworld figures. "Citizens are already feeling despair over the law-and-order situation in Taichung City," Hu said.
(Taiwan News Online) June 8, 2010.
Surely no one would have thought even a month ago that Taichung City Mayor Jason Hu of the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang), would face a leadership crisis that could threaten his chances to win the mayoralty of the combined metropolis Taichung City and Taichung County in the Nov. 27 special municipality polls. However, the presence of four senior police officers at the scene of the killing of a gang leader in Taichung City may present such a test.
A master in foreign and media relations, Hu's nine years as mayor of central Taiwan's largest city has been clouded by a reputation of failure in combatting organized crime and, according to various surveys, a ranking as the worst city in Taiwan for civic order. Thanks to the KMT's strong clout, Hu defeated triumphed in two previous mayoral polls in late 2001 and late 2005 against challengers from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party and was expected to win handily in the November 27 poll. However, the KMT mayor and his administration are now troubled by a lack of discipline in policy integrity as well as the chronic failure to tackle rampant crime rates.
Hu once incorporated the theory of a "broken window," formulated by two United States academics in the 1990s on crime prevention, as a guideline for improving Taichung's bad record of crime fighting. Simply speaking, this notion argues that the presence of some broken windows in a building will invite vandals to break more windows and posits that the best way to curb crime is to both quickly fix "broken windows" or community problems and enforce the law for even the smallest infractions, including jaywalking and panhandling, in order to prevent more serious crimes.
Supposedly, the most success story of this theory was recorded by former Republican New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani after he became mayor in 1993. Upholding a promise to "get tough on crime," Guiliani hired former NYC Transit Police chief William Bratton as chief of police, who launched a "zero tolerance" strategy in which the NYPD cracked down on all sorts of minor infractions, including subway fare dodging, public drinking and urination and even "squeegee men" who wiped the windows of cars stopped at intersections by red lights and demanded payment. Almost immediately rates of both petty and serious crimes dropped substantially and continued to decline during the next decade.
If Guiliani could do this, the argument goes, Hu should be able to accomplish a similar feat. However, what distinguished the mayors of New York City and Taichung City has been political will and determination and the ability to secure implementation. Before becoming mayor, Guiliani had served as an attorney-general and was "untouchable" from pressures form the organized crime organizations and other vested interests. Despite criticism from the media and opposition from the city council, Guiliani relied upon his toughness and determination to fight against crime and successfully rejuvenated tourism and manifested these same characteristics in lifting the city out of the aftermath of the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attack. What Guiliani possessed is exactly what Hu has lacked.
Taichung's convenient geographic location and the business-friendly environment has made the central city a favored location for organized criminal gangs to set up operational bases. The police force is both insufficient large and equipped and law enforcement has never been effective. Murders, shootings, kidnaps and fights among gangsters have been rampant in Taichugn under Hu's administration, but the "Achilles's Heel" has been the failure of the city government to enforce stricter discipline and effectively investigate and crack down on alleged corruption between the police and the organized crimes.
The controversial case of four police officers hiding in a gun shop while the murder took place revealed the dark side of the local police force and the failuure of the city's police commander to promptly report this incident to Hu revealed a grave lack of internal discipline and exposed Hu's powerlessness. The eruption of this scandal coincided with the KMT's nomination of Hu for mayor of the merged Taichung municipality and triggered a plunge in his approval ratings from 56 percent in March to 46 percent and the gap between Hu and DPP nominee Su Chia-chyuan has considerably narrowed even before Su has truly launched his campaign. Su may well take advantage of Hu's woes by highlighting his own robust administrative record in cracking down on crime during eight years as Pingtung County mayor and his experience as interior minister.
The deteriorating law and order situation in Taichung is a major blow to the KMT's hopes to win three of the five municipal mayoral seats. Taichung had been considered a "shoe-in" constituency for the ruling party, but leading media pundits and voters are now reconsidering the quality of Hu's governance and leadership. Hu is now in danger of falling through a "broken window" of the lack of confidence among Taichung voters to give him four more years and may take President and KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou down with him.
Here are the television news videos that contain the surveillance videos:
(Taiwan News Online) June 2, 2010
Two Taichung City police officers were disciplined after they were found in the presence of a suspected gangster when he was shot, reports said yesterday. The revelation comes at a bad time for Taichung City Mayor Jason Hu, at the start of a re-election bid when Taiwan's third largest town already has a reputation for a deteriorating law-and-order situation. The central government decided Monday to send 40 specially trained police officers to Taichung to ward off further gang attacks. Four police officers were playing mahjong with suspected gangster Weng Chi-nan and hid behind a tea table when he was shot last Friday, said Huang Kuo-shu, a Taichung City Councilor from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party.
Taichung police chief Hu Mu-yuan told Huang that a retired police officer had invited two other officers to drink tea together at a biotechnology company. The two officers did not know that Weng would also show up, while the two other officers were their drivers, Hu said. He denied they played mahjong and said they were not carrying their guns because the incident happened outside their working hours. Both senior officers received one demerit, while one was also demoted to a non-executive position and the other would retire as scheduled on Wednesday, Hu said. The two drivers only received a serious warning each because they were just following orders, he said. Even though the company office did not have a dubious reputation, police officers should avoid contacts with questionable individuals, Hu said.
The presence of the four policemen at Weng's killing came to light as investigators watched surveillance camera recordings of the scene, reports said. Mayor Hu told the Taichung City Council that police officers should not have contacts with criminal underworld figures. "Citizens are already feeling despair over the law-and-order situation in Taichung City," Hu said.
(Taiwan News Online) June 8, 2010.
Surely no one would have thought even a month ago that Taichung City Mayor Jason Hu of the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang), would face a leadership crisis that could threaten his chances to win the mayoralty of the combined metropolis Taichung City and Taichung County in the Nov. 27 special municipality polls. However, the presence of four senior police officers at the scene of the killing of a gang leader in Taichung City may present such a test.
A master in foreign and media relations, Hu's nine years as mayor of central Taiwan's largest city has been clouded by a reputation of failure in combatting organized crime and, according to various surveys, a ranking as the worst city in Taiwan for civic order. Thanks to the KMT's strong clout, Hu defeated triumphed in two previous mayoral polls in late 2001 and late 2005 against challengers from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party and was expected to win handily in the November 27 poll. However, the KMT mayor and his administration are now troubled by a lack of discipline in policy integrity as well as the chronic failure to tackle rampant crime rates.
Hu once incorporated the theory of a "broken window," formulated by two United States academics in the 1990s on crime prevention, as a guideline for improving Taichung's bad record of crime fighting. Simply speaking, this notion argues that the presence of some broken windows in a building will invite vandals to break more windows and posits that the best way to curb crime is to both quickly fix "broken windows" or community problems and enforce the law for even the smallest infractions, including jaywalking and panhandling, in order to prevent more serious crimes.
Supposedly, the most success story of this theory was recorded by former Republican New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani after he became mayor in 1993. Upholding a promise to "get tough on crime," Guiliani hired former NYC Transit Police chief William Bratton as chief of police, who launched a "zero tolerance" strategy in which the NYPD cracked down on all sorts of minor infractions, including subway fare dodging, public drinking and urination and even "squeegee men" who wiped the windows of cars stopped at intersections by red lights and demanded payment. Almost immediately rates of both petty and serious crimes dropped substantially and continued to decline during the next decade.
If Guiliani could do this, the argument goes, Hu should be able to accomplish a similar feat. However, what distinguished the mayors of New York City and Taichung City has been political will and determination and the ability to secure implementation. Before becoming mayor, Guiliani had served as an attorney-general and was "untouchable" from pressures form the organized crime organizations and other vested interests. Despite criticism from the media and opposition from the city council, Guiliani relied upon his toughness and determination to fight against crime and successfully rejuvenated tourism and manifested these same characteristics in lifting the city out of the aftermath of the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attack. What Guiliani possessed is exactly what Hu has lacked.
Taichung's convenient geographic location and the business-friendly environment has made the central city a favored location for organized criminal gangs to set up operational bases. The police force is both insufficient large and equipped and law enforcement has never been effective. Murders, shootings, kidnaps and fights among gangsters have been rampant in Taichugn under Hu's administration, but the "Achilles's Heel" has been the failure of the city government to enforce stricter discipline and effectively investigate and crack down on alleged corruption between the police and the organized crimes.
The controversial case of four police officers hiding in a gun shop while the murder took place revealed the dark side of the local police force and the failuure of the city's police commander to promptly report this incident to Hu revealed a grave lack of internal discipline and exposed Hu's powerlessness. The eruption of this scandal coincided with the KMT's nomination of Hu for mayor of the merged Taichung municipality and triggered a plunge in his approval ratings from 56 percent in March to 46 percent and the gap between Hu and DPP nominee Su Chia-chyuan has considerably narrowed even before Su has truly launched his campaign. Su may well take advantage of Hu's woes by highlighting his own robust administrative record in cracking down on crime during eight years as Pingtung County mayor and his experience as interior minister.
The deteriorating law and order situation in Taichung is a major blow to the KMT's hopes to win three of the five municipal mayoral seats. Taichung had been considered a "shoe-in" constituency for the ruling party, but leading media pundits and voters are now reconsidering the quality of Hu's governance and leadership. Hu is now in danger of falling through a "broken window" of the lack of confidence among Taichung voters to give him four more years and may take President and KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou down with him.
Here are the television news videos that contain the surveillance videos:
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