Police ID Checks

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

I couldnt rant there so I’ll rant here … hehe

It’s past eleven now and I’m working in an internet cafe … needless to say that the … erm … pigs (no better name for them) … raided (and note the usage of raided) this poor shop to pieces !!!

SEVEN !! of them rushed in here just to do what exactly that one or two couldn’t do ?? Grabbed everone … yes … EVERYONE’s id cards and started punching into little machines … how fuckin rude first of all and secondly … what the hell would a male foreigner under eighteen do in Taipei without supervision … how dense are these fucks ?

Shame the poor owner - they stood in the middle of the door and wrote out huge pink slips/documents/whatever thingies. They (the seven of them!!) just fuckin stood there and wasted the governments money …

Why can’t they go look for real crimes happening or write tickets for illegal or double parked cars or something ??
Or people who drive like shit and have no idea of obeying road laws … (are there any even??)

Do they get paid to harass their own ? SEVEN OF THEM !! That’s way beyond me !!

Looked like some sort of military training … all with bulletproof vests, pistols, a load of radios’s … the whole damn mission of them … what do they think ? It’s the attack of the killer I-Parade ???

The poor kids we teach fear the men in blue rather than knowing that the police is a source of help and safety !! How bad can Taiwan get ?!

I’m not just bitching on my part, but I can’t imagine how the poor Taiwanese feel … getting treated like criminals … constantly.

This is a disgrace !!

2

You’ve only just noticed this? Police here always take the easy way out. They would much rather confront the patrons of Internet cafes or college students in their dorms than deal with actual criminals. Actual criminals are actually dangerous, don’t you know? To catch a scooter you have to chase it…every seen any police chasing a scooter? a car? or even just a guy? Thought not. To give a parking ticket to a black benz triple parked on a major roadway means explaining to your superior why you didn’t give his best buddy Mr.Rich Businessman “a little face.” Every seen any police ticketing a black benz or BMW? Thought not.
Raiding dorms looking for MP3’s, raiding saunas and bar and Internet cafes, catching ordinary people turning right on red is easy, so we see it all the time. Don’t even have to break a sweat to do any of that. This is all that defines what police in Taiwan do and don’t do.
Remember when Chen Jin-xing was holed up in the South African attache’s house? When police got there, they just started firing into the house. Easiest thing to do. Took several phone calls from the South African government to get them to stop and actually try to resolve the situation. Look at how they handled the bus hostage situation not long ago.
If it’s cushy and easy, police will do it. The actual enforcement of the law is an ideal they don’t even pretend to aspire to. One of their excuses is “it’s always been this way”, and they’re right about that. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed this problem before.

3

i think as safe as people think taiwan is there is a world of crime not entered by most police men… that has existed from the times of CKS and the founding of the ROC… people and the police know about it… but nobody does anything much … a couple of raids and grabbing a couple of high profile gangsters… but most cops on their 50CC scooters or the ones that are buying Binglong on the side of the road are not interested in it… or are owned by some ganster or the precinct captain is controlled by the gangsters so they prefer to show their Gaestapo tatics in internet cafes and nightclubs and on CCTV news…

4

This situation has been around a lot longer than CKS, KMT and ROC together. Corruption of this sort goes back several dynasties at least.

5

I have … just haven’t bitched about it … It’s horribly sad :frowning:

6

Police here are twisted in their thinking. They assume that because they wear a uniform that they are unaccountable.

Last weekend, a friend was meeting a visitor from overseas who was staying at the Hyatt, and looking for some nightlife fun, they decided to go to Room 18, one of Taipei’s allegedly more “upscale” places. It is located right next to the Hyatt in Warner Village, so it was a convenient place for them to go.

Well, the idiot cops raided the place, found no evidence of drug usage, but still detained people for TWO HOURS! They also made everybody fill out a sheet, giving details of that person’s identity. Of course, there were only two pens provided for the hundreds of people there. :unamused: Once the sheets were filled out, the customers were bounced from one incompetent officer to another before they were allowed to leave. When my friend’s guest asked if he could return to his hotel rather than wait, the idiot cops said that they would have to escort him to his room! This guest, being a fairly frequent visitor to the Hyatt, did not wish the staff there to see him being escorted by Taipei’s “finest” and declined the offer.

No explanations were given, no apologies offered, and apparently no arrests were made. Considering that this happened at exactly the busiest time of the week, one can only assume that they were laying the groundwork for a bigger shakedown than what they had previously been getting.

I don’t blame the management for not protesting too loudly, as that could result in a complete shutdown. I don’t blame the local population, as they have been brought up to respect authority, whether or not that respect is warranted.

I DO think that the foreign community can and should protest a little bit louder. If you are in Taiwan legitimately, drug-free, reasonably sober and otherwise “untouchable”, politely ask the policemen for their names and ranks. WHen they get in your face about this, as they most surely will, ask them if this is an illegal request. (It isn’t). Then follow up with a letter to the mayor’s office, detailing the incident, the inconvenience caused and the names, rank and behaviour of the police involved.

:slight_smile: The mayor’s e-mail address is: mayor@mail.tcg.gov.tw :slight_smile:
(No, I didn’t hack Taipei City Gov’t’s system to get this, it’s available to the public and administered by some of his underlings. I happen to know that he does read at least some of his e-mails personally.)

If you work in an international company, are travelling to Taiwan on business, or if you hove a lofty and/or visible position in the community, be sure to include your own details. Trust me, the city government DOES care about its international image. Face is face, after all.

It would take balls to do this, but can you imagine Mayor Ma’s reaction if he ever got an unhappy letter from a visiting politician? Or from a country manager from some multi-national company? Even letters from less “important” visitors would have a cumulative effect. It wouldn’t take long before the cops started rethinking their tactics on acquiring Hong Bao.

We don’t have to put up with bullsh*t from police just because everybody else does. That being said, make sure that your status as a visitor, guest or resident in Taiwan is immaculate, and that you are polite/civil to the police, or you could find yourself in hot water! :smiley: