Law enforcement in Taiwan (officially the Republic of China) operates primarily through governmental police agencies.
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.
Japanese colonial period
The first formal police forces in Taiwan were organized by the Japanese Colonial Government which oversaw Taiwan between 1895 and 1945. In the early years of Japanese rule, rebellions were common especially in rural areas. With the passage of the "Bandit Laws", police forces as well as garrison units from the Japanese military were tasked with suppression of rebels, though large scale rebellions had largely died out by 1902. Military and police forces were also involved in the efforts of the colonial government to secure control over the mountainous regions of Taiwan from the Taiwanese aborigines around 1910, and a series of smaller attempted rebellions and civil disorders between 1912 and 1916. With the gradual acceptance of Japanese rule sinking in among the general populace by the 1920s, most agitators turned to seeking political change and reform within the established system in the home rule movement, Secret police forces were tasked with keeping a close watch on political groups and agitators. In 1920, Taiwanese were permitted join the formal police force after passing an exam.
In the early days of Japanese colonial rule police were deployed to the cities to maintain order, often through brutal means, while the military was deployed to the countryside as a counterinsurgency and policing force. The brutality of early Japanese policing backfired and often inspired rebellion and insurrection instead of quashing it. This system was reformed by Goto Shinpei who sought to co-opt existing traditions to expand Japanese power. Out of the Qing baojia system he crafted the Hoko system of community control. The Hoko system eventually became the primary method by which the Japanese authorities went about all sorts of tasks from tax collecting, to opium smoking abatement, to keeping tabs on the population. Under the Hoko system every community was broken down into Ko, groups of ten neighboring households. When a person was convicted of a serious crime, the person's entire Ko would be fined. The system only became more effective as it was integrated with the local police.
Under Goto Shinpei police stations were established in every part of the island. Rural police stations took on extra duties with those in the aboriginal regions operating schools known as “savage children's educational institutes” to assimilate aboriginal children into Japanese culture. The local police station also controlled the rifles which aboriginal men relied upon for hunting as well as operated small barter stations which created small captive economies.
Most of the members of the police forces during this time were expatriate Japanese, though towards the latter period of Japanese rule, locals began to be recruited. Throughout much of this time, the police forces were granted broad power and authority and allegations of police brutality were common, especially during the earlier periods of Japanese rule. Consequently, they were not particularly liked by the general populace, and were often viewed as a symbol of the more oppressive side of Japanese rule; though this gradually changed with the stabilization of the political situation. Nonetheless, Japan was generally credited for formally establishing law and order in what had previously been a hotbed of rebellion and lawlessness during Qing dynasty rule. Much of the law enforcement infrastructure and traditions developed during this time would continue to be used under postwar ROC rule.
Police in the early ROC
The ROC's law enforcement system 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.
Martial Law During the period between 19 May 1949 and 14 July 1987, the Taiwan police system had a controversial page in Taiwan history.
Between 1945 and 1988, police officers in Taiwan wore khaki uniforms with khaki combination caps similar to those worn by naval officers, or with white plastic helmets similar to the U.S. Navy Shore patrol. Critics noted the similarity to military uniforms, eventually leading to the revision of police uniforms in 1988.
On 5 February 1951, by the power of the now-abolished law of contravention, police officers could grab men with long hairdo and use scissors to cut the men's long hair. So applied to mini-skirts, Hawaii shirts, flared trousers, or other clothes of the men or women with irregular dressing. On 5 February 1972, Taipei City Police Department even launched a mass-detainment against people who dressed like hippies.
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 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), 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 (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.
Taiwan Garrison Command The influence to Taiwan of this infamous late Taiwan Garrison Command under the Ministry of National Defense is much too wide, including every aspect like politics, society, economics, culture, and even education, not just confined to the Taiwan police system. Later, it was disbanded and broken into two different units, which have evolved to the current Coast Guard Administration under the Executive Yuan and Reserve Command of the Ministry of National Defense.
Military Intelligence Bureau Military Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense is the successor of the controversial Bureau of Investigation and Statistics of the National Military Council of Republic of China in the early ROC era and during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was nicknamed "Jun-Tong" (軍統), literally Military-Statistics. Before 1949, many high-ranking police officers were trained by the Military-Statistics. After 1949, many of them, and a lot of intelligence officers from the military intelligence agencies, were flooded into Taiwan police organizations. The typical case is Wang Lu-chiao (王魯翹), Father of Wang Cho-chiun, the Director-General of National Police Agency after 1 June 2008. Wang Lu-chiao was an intelligence officer of Military-Statistics and sent to Hanoi to assassinate Wang Jingwei between January and March 1939 without success. Wang Lu-chiao, after 1949 and until his death by a vehicular accident in 1973, became a successful criminal detective and later served as the Police Commissioner of Taipei City Police Department in the 1970s.
General Political Warfare Department of the Ministry of National Defense This military institution was the equivalence of the Third Chief Directorate of KGB in former Soviet Union. In the ROC Armed Forces, every military command, down to a company or a battery, has a commissioned officer served as the third-ranking officer and a political commissar, who is either dispatched from or trained by now "Political Warfare General Bureau", which was back then "General Political Warfare Department" of the office of the Ministry of National Defense.
However, the influence of this former General Department of Political Warfare was not just confined within the ROC military. Many commissioned officers from the branch of Political Warfare were directly transferred to the police system. One of them, Chen Bi (陳壁), even were promoted to the Police Commissioner of The Taiwan Provincial Police Administration.
In the ROC, before 26 May 1995, military training lessons were mandatory to all students of senior high schools, colleges and universities. As a result, there were and still are many military instructors stationed at every school more advanced than senior high schools. Naturally these military instructors are also commissioned officers in active duty either dispatched from or trained by the branch of Political Warfare. Before 1995, one of their missions at school is to closely watch, report, or even suppress any possible anti-government or political activity launched by students on or off campus.
Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau was originated from the other controversial Republic of China security unit, the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, so-called "Zhong-Tong" or literally "Central Statistics" Zhong-Tong was subordinate to the Central Executive Committee of Chinese Nationalist Party before 1949.
National Security Bureau The National Security Bureau of the ROC National Security Council was established at the suggestion of Chiang Ching-kuo in 1956. This bureau served as the primary intelligence unit in Taiwan and headed by Cheng Jie-Min (鄭介民), a heavy-weight three-star army general from Military-Statistics. The purpose of creating such a new intelligence agency was to settle the inter-agency rivalry among the intelligence community in Taiwan and allow more direct access for Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo.