NPA Says Police Force Vacancy Issue Almost Resolved|警力缺3600人 警署估明年可適度解決

In past years, the police force had nearly 9,000 vacancies. But the National Police Agency has been recruiting, and vacancies fell to 3,600 in March. The agency estimates the situation will get even better next year. But police organizations are more pessimistic. They say long working hours, numerous duties and protests make their job less appealing.


The National Police Agency has expanded its recruiting efforts in recent years, hoping to resolve a severe understaffing problem. Statistics show 3,000 police officers retired in 2015, pushing the number of police force vacancies to 8,000. In recent years, however, the number of both retirees and vacancies has dropped. The NPA therefore estimates the grassroots police officer vacancy problem should be more or less resolved by 2019.

The maximum number of recruits we can train a year is 3,000 to 4,000. This should be able to appropriately resolve the future vacancy problem.

In response, the Taiwan Police Union said it believes the NPA is being too optimistic. It points out that there have been numerous protests in recent years, including many instances of people trying to force their way into the Legislative Yuan or organizing large-scale demonstrations. To prevent these protesters from causing trouble, the police not only deploy barriers, but also mobilize police officers from other cities and counties as backup. As a result, many police officers are overworked and some begin thinking about quitting.

The characteristics of police officers' duties are comparatively more arduous. Moreover, the number of protests they need to deal with has increased recently. There has been no way to reduce their duties, and they also have their service to the public. These are all factors that influence police officer numbers, as well as people interested in becoming police officers.

We already made calculations, by 2020 at the earliest. In Taipei, a police officer has to serve 2,000 citizens, which is quite a burden.

Taiwan Promotion of Retired Police Rights adviser Chen Ming-yi says existing police officers should help to train the next generations, but some would rather retire when they accumulate enough years. This is a vicious cycle, and it will therefore not be easy to fill vacancies. However, the NPA says it will take actual retirement circumstances into account in the future and constantly revise recruitment plans.