Police Are Coming to My House

They are checking on all of the waiguoren in ShiJr (Xizhi) and will come to my house tomorrow. Tried to come over today, but I wasn’t home. They knew my address and what nationality I was. They also know about the other foriengers in my neighborhood. What is this all about? I have lived in Taiwan for about 6 or 7 years and nothing like this has happened? New mayor in ShiJr?

Hobart,

This happened to us when we were in JingMei. They were doing a “census”. They wanted to know our salary, our rental and our current employers. We gave them the info and never heard from them again.

Keep us posted so the rest of us xizhi crowd know what to do…

We had that a few times when we lived in town. We used to have such fun with old plod – yes there are four people here. No you can’t talk to them, they’re sleeping. Come back tomorrow. No, sorry, they’re not in. I think they went to the Philippines or somewhere, etc. etc.

I think its something to do with the fact that you’re supposed to register with the local copshop in your neighborhood, but no-one I know ever does. I tried once, and the cop just waved his hand airily and said “Hao, hao, hao” before returning to his solitaire game.

My wife used to refuse to tell them her occupation and we certainly never divulged our salaries, although I think I told them once that my profession was “mover and shaker” with a salary “exceeding NT$450,000 per month.” He wrote it all down dutifully and we never saw him again. Its just a routine thing and they do it to all households, foreigner and local.

Of course, I’d never dream of being so flippant and puerile these days. :wink:

The same thing happened to us in Yonghe. They just want to verify that you did not give a false address when you applied for your visa. It’s like a census and crime prevention measure, I imagine. We cooperated and they got their information. I exchanged phone numbers with him becuse he was the foreign affairs cop for Yonghe and I thought it might come in handy. I never did call him, which is a pity. Maybe I will make friends with the police in my new neighborhood. :stuck_out_tongue:

[quote=“Kristy aka Sharky”]

Keep us posted so the rest of us xizhi crowd know what to do…[/quote]

I won’t open my door to unsolicited ding dongs so they’ll be hard-pressed for a census from this cat infested dwelling.

Ding dongs, indeed! How dare you besmirch the good name of the city’s finest. Anyway, if you don’t answer your door they’ll simply rappel from the roof down on to your patio with the safety catches off on their little clipboards, putting their dirty feet all over your zen gravel bed.

Thanks for the replies. Thought it was strange at first, but it seems like this is standard procedure.

It helps if you answer the door wearing a peek-a-boo nightie.

Yup…especially when you’re a big, hairy guy. :wink:

I haven’t had this sort of visit in years though. I made a habit of always keeping the address on my ARC at least one step behind. Just had to put up with the usual neighborhood busybodies (village chief etc) and their annual visit. :unamused:

Being a home owner now, I can’t do that anymore :cry:

Quick! Hide the bong! :wink:

Or offer them a hit …

The cop came on Friday. Wanted to see my passport, but I couldn’t find it because I just moved to a new place and hadn’t unpacked everything. So he wanted to see my ARC and my wife’s passport, but my ARC I couldn’t find either so I showed him my wife’s passport, a little chit chat about what I do here and he was gone. No sweat. Said he would be back in two months though. Whatever.

Not long after I had moved in to my new place, a policeman stopped me in the lobby one day and asked for my ID, job details, etc. But he did that for everyone in the building, so I suppose it’s normal.

How come no-one official has visited me yet?

You think I live too far up the mountain?

It’s that Census thing, happens everywhere. I looked surprised and said " Gosh, census time already. I had better return to my home town with my pregnant wife. Oh, if you see some wise men with gifts for the baby tell them I have left the stable for better lodgings."

Bassman,

Timely! Merry Merry to you. :slight_smile:

We had the census people come to our house a while back. They asked of the landlord still lived there. It was a fair question because we’ve been receiving his mail at this house, and because he’s been reluctant to give us an official receipt for living there (which I could then claim on my tax), so my guess was that he’s listed as a resident in order to ease his tax burden.

Would it be any big deal for me to answer honestly to the police and say that he doesn’t live there, and that the place has been rented out to foreigners for the past 5 years? Or should I just shut up and claim ignorance?

Regards,

The Big Babou

Depends on whether you want your deposit back or not, eh?

:wink:

Think they might find it a little strange if you pleading ignorance on the matter of whether your landlord lived in the same apartment as you or not :laughing:
Personally I’d say he doesn’t (I assume he doesn’t), but wouldn’t mention the previous 5 years, unless you’re the foreigner that’s been there for 5 years and they ask.
Regarding the tax break. How do you pay your rent? If it’s by bank transfer or similar, then you don’t need a receipt from your landlord, if you pay cash then that’s a more difficult problem. Did the landlord agree to give you receipts for tax break purposes when you were signing the contract? It’s generally accepted that you won’t claim the tax break and he ‘reduces’ the rent accordingly, asking for receipts usually jacks the rental amount 10~15% from what I remember. The whole tax issue can be a good way to blackmail a lower rental fee as he was supposed to declare during the year, not just at year end so you can have him up *^%# creek if he wasn't declaring all year round. Move out, get your deposit back and then &^% 'em!

If you want to answer honestly to the police that he doesn’t live there, that is fine. However, as long as you don’t say you are paying to live there, your landlord wouldn’t get into tax trouble. For that kind of service, I suppose that he could knock off some money on the rent, but I would ask with a smile and not act like you are blackmailing him. However, maybe those police don’t really care about real estate taxes, only their census work.