The National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior (NPA; ) is an agency under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of China (ROC), or Taiwan. Headquartered in Taipei, the agency oversees all police forces on a national level.
Most actual law enforcement and day-to-day policing duties on a city and county level are delegated to local police departments, which answer to the NPA but are considered agencies of their local government. However, the NPA has direct control over several specialized units which may be deployed to assist local forces, as well as the national highway patrol.
Unlike the law enforcement in the United States, the central government appoints the head positions of city and county police departments in the ROC and forms a solid chain of command for all police personnel. The Director-General of NPA has the full control of personnel rotation and transfer, as well as administrative commendations and reprimands over all high ranking police officers, including local police department chiefs.
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.
In addition to its own internal administrative offices, the NPA has direct control over the following units and agencies:
The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) is responsible for the investigation of high-profile crimes, forensics, and computer-related crimes. Its staff is split into the following groups:
There are also nine active field police squads
Two task-force-grouped centers include:
There are seven individual Special Operations Groups, named the "Special Police Corps" (). They 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; literally âÂÂSafety Maintenance Special Mission Groupâ () officially translated to english as the which is the official Counterterrorism unit which consists of the 1st, 4th and 5th Special Operations Groups. The uniforms and equipment of the SOG units are similar to local Police tactical unit (equivalent of SWAT in the US), which are referred to in english as Thunder Squads (). The Thunder Squads are subordinate to local police departments. However, the SOG Forces are the only police units equipped with V-150S armor vehicles and M998 Humvee, which were transferred from ROC Army after the 2004 shoot out with .
A training base for courses of on-the-job training and mobile task force. Riot control, Special Weapons and Tactics, counterterrorism in northern Taiwan. It commands six special police brigades and one (). Three brigades of conscripts, 2nd, 5th and 6th, served like combat police in Korea, are usually deployed for Riot control.
There are 4 brigades commended by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. It is for security duty of all governmental business units and Taiwan Power Company under the Ministry of Economic Affairs and all Science Parks of National Science Council.
It is a part of border police and provides supportive and supplemental duty of Customs Services of Ministry of Finance.
Riot control, Special Weapons and Tactics, counter-terrorism in central Taiwan.
Riot control, Special Weapons and Tactics, counter-terrorism in southern Taiwan.
Responsible for the physical security of central government buildings, high-ranking civilian officials, foreign embassies, and liaison institutes.
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.
There are 6 Special Police Brigades inherited from the late Taiwan Provincial Police Administration.
The Civil Defense Force (æ°Âé²é²æ æÂÂæ®管å¶æÂÂ) is administered by the NPA.
The Immigration Bureau (å ¥åºå¢Â管çÂÂå±Â) was removed from NPA and reorganized as the National Immigration Agency on 2 January 2007.
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.
Rank insignias are worn over the right breast pocket when in uniform. The rank system of the National Police Agency is as follows:
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 "ä¸Âæ¯ÂäºÂ" or "one dime and two cents." On 3 March 1999, an adjustment of "the table of police positions and corresponding ranks" or "Ã¥ÂÂç´Âè¦å¯Âæ©ÂéÂÂå¸校è¦å¯Âå®Âè·åÂÂé ÂéÂÂ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 "ä¸Âæ¯Âä¸Â" or "one dime and three cents."
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.
Aside from firearms, police officers are also equipped with Non-lethal weapon such as batons, Pepper Spray and Tasers.
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.
The ROC's law enforcement system was built upon the foundations laid down during the Qing dynasty with the establishment of the Peking Public Inspection Headquarters in 1902. Following the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the Republic in 1912, a National Police Department was established under the auspices of the Ministry of the Interior. This early centralized system consisted of a national headquarters in the capital, provincial police administrations for each province, police departments and bureaus at the municipal and county level, respectively. This system was extended to Taiwan following its transfer to ROC control in 1947, two years after the close of hostilities in World War II, though the basic system from the Japanese era was retained.
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).
The first four Directors-General of NPA, between 1972 and 1990, were active general officers transferred from Army or Marine Corps:
The latter three even served as two-star Marine Corps Commandants.
Historically speaking, in Taiwan, unlike Special Higher Police (Tokko) and the Japanese Military police (Kempeitai) during the Japanese Colonial era, the secret police activity was not the major task of Taiwan police system during the Martial-Law era.
The Taiwan police system at that time only played as a supportive role, like performing frequent surveillance, for example. Nevertheless, the governmental body of Taiwan police system back then was and still is subjective to the supervision and coordination of National Security Bureau of the ROC National Security Council. The main secret-police work were held up by other security units listed below. Several units in the past like National Security Bureau or National Bureau of Investigation were much more fearful or despicable to the people of Taiwan. However, by the end of the Martial-Law era, these so-called "secret police" units were legalized, transformed into intelligence-oriented or law-enforcement units, or even disbanded.
The typical secret-police example of the involvement from several security units is Peng Ming-min, the famous Taiwanese political prisoner since the 1960s. Tipped off by several civilians, Peng was at first arrested by a police detail from local police station in Taipei City. Immediately, he was sent to Taiwan Garrison Command for interrogation, which was led by its Division of Political Warfare. Sequentially, Peng was courted-martial by a military tribunal organized by "Division of Judge Advocate General" of Taiwan Garrison Command. Peng was pardoned in 1965 but put under house arrest. In 1966, Peng's case was then discussed by National Security Council and transferred from Taiwan Garrison Command to Bureau of Investigation. Until his escape in January, 1970, Peng was under the regular visits from local policemen and constant surveillance from agents of Bureau of Investigation.
In 1990, Chuang Heng-dai (èÂÂ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.
The Taiwan Provincial Police Administration was again separated from the NPA in 1995 with the implementation of local autonomy statutes in the ROC Constitution. Fire-fighting units also ceased to be part of the NPA from that year and were reorganized into a separate fire department. National Fire Agency of Ministry of Interior was established on 1 March 1995 to be responsible for fire prevention, disaster rescue and emergency medical service.
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.
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.
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. 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 Pachang River of Chiayi County, were surrounded by the quickly rising torrent on Saturday afternoon. The four stood in the center of the river for three hours, waiting for a helicopter that never came, and were finally washed away at around 7:08pm in sight of family members, helpless would-be rescuers, and the lens of news cameras on the riverbank. The delay was attributed to bureaucratic red tape and three top government officials resigned, including Yu Shyi-kun, the vice Premier of Executive Yuan and two Director-Generals from National Police Agency and National Fire Agency. This Pachang-Creek incident () caused a field day for the news media in Taiwan and triggered a reform of the airborne emergency management system. On 10 March 2004, the newly formed National Airborne Service Corps (NASC) of the Ministry of Interior absorbed four civil airborne squadrons
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 Kaohsiung County (now part of Kaohsiung City). Though they held a numerical advantage, the officers found themselves outgunned by the suspects who possessed bulletproof vests and M16's. In the ensuing gunfight four police officers were injured, and two suspects were shot and arrested. However the ringleader of the gang managed to escape along with a cohort after holding a passing civilian hostage and escaping in a hijacked car on live TV. The ensuing manhunt was widely covered, the ringleader ) was finally arrested following another gun battle with police on 13 July 2005.
On 28 February 2006, Hou You-yi, the Criminal Investigation Bureau Commissioner, assumed command as the director-general of the National Police Agency. He, a career criminal investigator, is the youngest-ever to hold that post. , Chief of Taipei City Police Department, was named as the new director-general effective June 2008.
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 (å³æ¯åÂÂ) was named the first director general of NIA.
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. 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.
Regarding drugs, corruption, espionage, and economic crimes, the Investigative Bureau of the Ministry of Justice (MJIB) has developed capabilities to cover cases in such 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 "special branch" in the police system in United Kingdom, the security divisions at all levels of Taiwan police system are mainly staff units, not fielded police details. Under the supervision of National Security Bureau, all non-mililary cases of espionage would soon be moved to the Bureau of Investigation.
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-laundering. However, the Criminal Investigation Bureau of NPA has built fair reputation on copyright protection and the safety of computers 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.
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.
Regarding counter-terrorism, there are three company-size troops of special forces under the operational control of the Ministry of National Defense:
These three are tasked to handle combat situations involving international terrorists or paramilitary-type criminals. Bound by laws, currently only the Military Police Special Service Company can react to non-military cases, like airplane hijacking.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) is considered a civilian law enforcement agency under the administration of the Ocean Affairs Council of the Executive Yuan, though during emergencies it may be incorporated as part of the Republic of China Armed Forces.
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 Taipei County (now New Taipei City) Police Department: the Taipei County Police Commissioner Yao Kao-Chiao (å§Âé«Âæ©Â) assigned all his fire policemen to kitchen duty because he felt his fire policemen were doing nothing except waiting for a fire to happen.
It is worth to point out that Yao Kao-Chiao was the Directors-General of Central Police University from May 1995 to June 1996, of National Police Agency from June 1996 to 1997, and of Coast Guard Administration from 28 January 2000 until 21 May 2000.
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 (è¶Âé¼), 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.
The Auxiliary Police (Traditional Chinese:義åÂÂè¦å¯Â) is an auxiliary organization that civil voluntarily join to support the police and perform civil defense tasks. 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.