Title: How to Prevent Conflicts During the Police Checkpoints

 

     Police brutality in the United States has raised awareness for decades. Because of racial discrimination or misconduct, many were being killed. Taiwan has also suffered from the similar situation as the U.S. in recent years. As we can see from the news, there are more and more conflicts happening between the police and folks. With the advance of technology, people now can use their cellphones or dashboard cameras to record the moment of conflicts during the police checkpoints. As a result, people start to put more focus on the issue of whether the police have enforced the law excessively. Without a doubt, the police have their right to catch the criminal. However, when facing unreasonable demands, people also have the right to protect themselves. Since similar problems keep occurring in Taiwan, we have come up with three different solutions based on the example of the cases, such as the establishment of concrete standard, the obedience of Principle of Proportionality, and the promotion of methods to self-help.

 

Background

     Recently, there have been three cases in Taiwan showing that the police have conflicts with folks when conducting spot checks. The first case was on April 22, 2021, in Zhongli, Taoyuan. Mrs. Zhan, a music teacher, was rummaged by the policeman only because the police never saw her and she looked nervous. With such unreasonable reason, Mrs. Zhan resisted to obey the policeman’s command. Finally, the policeman was irritated and forced the teacher to the ground after the Mrs. Zhan bursted out “You are really stupid” to him. Then the teacher was detained in the police station for 9 hours. From this case, we can see that the problem leading to the conflict is the unclearance of the concrete standard to conduct the spot checks. The second case happened in 2020, a police officer kicked a teenager’s head in Zhonghe, New Taipei. At that time, the teenager was only sixteen years old. He drove a car without a driving license and was noticed by the police. Because of his guilt, he refused to accept the police’s spot check. He ignored the police’s order, running the red light to avoid the police. Due to his illegal behavior, he was caught by the police. The police suppressed him by excessive violence, kicking his head. Thus, the police was accused of using the wrong way to arrest the criminal. Based on this case, the main problem is the violence of the Principle of Proportionality. The final case is about the Minister of Culture, Li Yong-de (李永得), who encountered an improper checkpoint by the police in 2017, March 19. At that time, because he simply had a glance at the police, the police pulled over him and asked about his ID number without any reason. Li Yong-de requested the police to explain the reason, otherwise, he refused to cooperate with the police. Simultaneously, he was wondering if he had the right to express his disagreement. According to this case, the problem is the lack of the knowledge for folks to self-help. Like the survey we have conducted, 60% of interviewees have the experience of being spot-checked by the police (Figure 1). Among those who have been spot-checked, 26% interviewees have encountered uncomfortable spot-check experiences (Figure 2, 100%-74%=26%). Apparently, some folks have left a bad impression on the police. Price and Blitman (2016) wrote that “The nation as a whole is crying out for a way to mend the conflict building between the police and the public, to stop the violence coming from both directions, to change the prevailing experience of police as executors of force.” This condition will result in a phenomenon that people no longer believe the police and are unwilling to follow the police’s order. In consequence, how to prevent conflicts when the police conduct the spot check becomes a problem that we should notice in our daily life.

Figure 1. Responses from Survey Item 1

 

Figure 2. Responses from Survey Item 6

 

Solution 1

     To solve the problem of police brutality, which undermines people’s trust in police, the police should obey the Principle of Proportionality when they conduct the spot checks. Here are two examples about the overuse of police’s power. In 2020, a police officer kicked a teenager’s head because he did not cooperate in New Taipei. Later in 2021, a policeman violently forced the music teacher to the ground and handcuffed her after irritated by the teacher, who yelled “You are really stupid!” to him. The teacher was too painful to scream and got hurt. To avoid such incidents, the police should take great care of using their force. The police should remain calm and use force when necessary. On the other hand, folks shouldn’t insult the police in any way. To sum up, the police should follow the Principle of Proportionality to prevent doing harm to the people.

 

Solution 2

     To solve the problem of insufficient knowledge for folks to protect themselves when confronting the spot checks, the government should promote the methods of self-help for folks. As the first and final case shows, most people do not know how to protect themselves when facing such unreasonable spot checks. In fact, the folks are able to record the situation to protect themselves. Moreover, the folks can require the police to fill out the Public Dissent Record Form for the Implementation of a Temporary Interrogation(實施臨檢盤查民眾異議紀錄表)​ as evidence for future appeals or administrative litigation. However, according to our survey, 54% of interviewees do not know these methods (Figure 5). Thus, the government should strongly announce the policy and ask the police to inform the folks when conducting the spot check. As American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) (2021) suggested, the folks have the right to stay silent and don’t need to be punished for refusing any question because only a judge can ask you to answer questions. But it is worth noting that when taking the video, the folks should keep a distance of two meters from the police just in order to avoid violating the principle of secret investigation and offending the interfering of public affairs.

Figure 4. Responses from Survey Item 9

 

Solution 3

     To solve the problems caused by the unclarity of current laws and reduce the conflict, we suggest that the government should establish a reference standard which provides case examples, so that the police can provide more convincing reasons. In most cases, such kinds of conflict often arise when people find the reasons for conducting spot checks provided by the police are unreasonable and do not want to conform to their order. In Mrs. Zhan’s case, she thought the policeman didn’t have probable cause and refused to cooperate while the policeman thought he had the right to spot-check her. On this issue, the public holds different perspectives, too. The lawyer, Lin Zhiqun(林智群) considered his reason reasonable and said that the police often find suspects involved with drugs by their nervous looks. However, the legislator, Qiu Xianzhi (邱顯智) said that “a strange look” couldn’t be a proper reason to do a spot check according to the law. Based on our survey, over 20% of interviewees mentioned that whether to accept the spot check or not depends on the situation and the reason (see Figures 3). Thus, since people care about the causes provided by the police, the reference standard should be made clear and specify in what situations can a policeman conduct the spot check.

Figure 3. Responses from Survey Item 4

 

To solve this problem, Liu, Yi-Chyou (2017) also suggests that the Police Agency set up the concrete standard, collect practical cases, and hold courses to make sure that the police know when and how to conduct a legal spot check. Chao-Ping Yang, (2019) suggests that the police can evaluate the folks’ behavior based on four important factors: the crime rate of the location, the crime record of the person inspected by the police, the suspicious degree of current behavior, and the degree of performance pressure. In addition, she advises the government to provide the police with case education and enhance the police’s cognition of mental impressions when they carry out a spot check. Above all, we consider the establishment of the reference standard for the evaluation of suspicion the best and efficient way to reduce disputes. Also, it will take the government’s efforts to promote this standard, and both the police and the people need to be familiar with it.

 

Conclusion

     According to our survey(see figure 5), 94% of people agree that conducting a spot check helps maintain social order. However, in Taiwan, there have been many cases regarding the conflicts between the police and folks lately. The conflicts left the public with bad impressions on police, and many people called for legal and proper spot checks(see figure 6). To reduce the conflicts between the two sides, we propose 3 solutions to solve the problem. First, due to the ambiguity of the law, We suggest that the government establish a reference standard on when to conduct a spot-check, which will give the police clear directions, and thus eliminate the chances of misunderstandings. Next, police should take care of the Principle of Proportionality when using their power to avoid police brutality. On the folks’ side, they should remain calm and shouldn’t insult the police. Lastly, If the people are doubtful of police’s actions, they can use self-help methods, like asking for a form called Public Dissent Record Form to address their discontent or recording the process, rather than having a fight or insulting the police. In sum, to avoid the conflicts, it takes both side’s efforts. People should understand that the police are doing their duty, while the police should follow the regulation of the law.

Figure 5. Responses from Survey Item 10

 

11. 承上題，為什麼? Follow the previous question. Why?

在合法合理的情況下，可以透過臨檢抓到通緝犯

under lagal and reasonable spot checks, the wanted criminals could be caught.

還是有機會抓到通緝犯等，但前提是必須一切合法的行為

It’s still possible to catch the wanted criminals, but it has to be a legal spot check first.

 

Figure 6. Responses from Survey Item 11

 

References

American Civil Liberties Union (2021). What To Do When Encountering Questions from Law Enforcement: Know your rights when encountering questions from law enforcement.

Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/what-do-when-encountering-law-enforcement-questioning/

Liu, Y. C. (2017). A Study on the Problems of Clear Bar and Compulsory   Measures for the Police to Make the Spot-Check on Road—Focusing on the Police Power Exercise Act. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/11296/vyqfu5

Price, M. & Blitman, B. (2016, Aug 11). How do we end the escalating conflict between police and community? Retrieved from https://www.browardbar.org/end-escalating-conflict-police-community/

Yang, C. P. (2019). The Dilemma of Public Security versus Human Rights：Cognitive Analysis of Police Spot Check. Retrieved from  https://hdl.handle.net/11296/8yp2z4