TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan  - Officials from the nation’s top police, prosecution and investigation agencies yesterday held a joint press conference as a symbol of their determination to fight crime after a series of daytime gunfights in Tai chung City, including the killing of an alleged gangster who was shot dead in the presence of four city police officers who failed to intervene. The officials pledged to crack down all gang-related activities within three months’ time.

“We need to make a difference in this three-month operation,” State Public Prosecutor General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) said at a press conference he held alongside Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞), Taiwan High Court Prosecutor General Yen Da-ho (顏大和), Bureau of Investigation Director-General Wu Ying (吳瑛) and Military Police Commander Lee Hsiang-chou (李翔宙).

Jiang said the new initiative, code-named “Operation Thunder” (靂靂專案), followed President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) directive on Wednesday that the ministry and the NPA had a month to produce visible results in the fight against crime and to institute better discipline in the police force.

Cracking down on gangs and their members and conducting random raids against potential criminals would be priorities for officers deployed for the operation, the officials said.

“We will also crack down on officers who accept bribes from gangsters or who work with them,” Huang said.

Mahjong with mobsters

Meanwhile, at a separate setting yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) called for the creation of an anti-corruption bureau following recent allegations of ties between police and organized crime in Taichung City.

Taichung Police Commissioner Hu Mu-yuan (胡木源) resigned last week amid reports that a number of police officers were playing mahjong and drinking tea with mobsters at the time of alleged gang leader Weng Chi-nan’s (翁奇楠) murder.

Dozens of armed officers from the National Police Agency’s elite Wei-An Special Police Commando unit arrived in the city last week to help maintain public order.

These incidents show the need for an agency capable of investigating “black and white” ties, Wong said, referring to relations between public officials and organized crime figures.

(Taipei Times)