At the Executive Yuan public security meeting today, Premier Jiang Yi-huah commended prosecutors and police officers on their successes in fighting narcotics smuggling, pollution of public land, and gangs.
The premier especially praised the Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) for seizing 103 kilograms (kg) of heroin and 240 kg of ketamine on October 11, preventing these smuggled drugs from entering the local market and endangering public health.
He also noted the repatriation of two murder suspects who fled to mainland China by the National Police Agency (NPA) of the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) on October 15, saying the agency's swiftness indicated the government's determination to combat crimes.
After hearing the MOI's report on the most recent public security trends and analyses, Premier Jiang expressed gratitude to the relevant units of both the central and local governments for their successful efforts to maintain public security and for ensuring that National Day celebrations went off without a hitch.
So far this year, crime has fallen while a greater proportion of cases have been resolved. According to the MOI, there were 224,197 crimes reported from January to September, a year-on-year decrease of 8.29 percent from last year's figure of 244,462 crimes over the first nine months. Meanwhile, the case resolution rate for the same period reached 88.88 percent, a year-on-year rise of 5.08 percentage points.
Although there were less fraud cases during the first nine months of 2013 than there were for the same period of the previous year, the premier requested prosecutors' offices to stay on guard and to keep citizens alert by continuing to warn them about such crimes, particularly about the danger of scam groups impersonating government agencies.
The premier also commended prosecutors' offices, police, and environmental protection and forest units for their joint efforts to crack down on illegal polluters of national land. According to the MOJ briefing on the subject, case counts, captures of offenders, the conviction rate and punishments have all risen, and a number of criminal groups have been tracked down and eliminated.
Because illicit logging and other breaches of environmental protection laws are relatively difficult to detect, and lawbreakers' methods frequently change, investigating such cases is difficult and requires cross-ministry teamwork, Jiang said. He asked the MOJ to work with the Environmental Protection Administration, Council of Agriculture and MOI to safeguard the nation's environment by publicizing policies, organizing training seminars and adopting technological devices to aid investigation.
Following the MOI's report on anti-gang measures, the premier noted that domestic businesses' satisfaction with the government's efforts to combat organized crime has grown consistently between 2008 and 2013, and each year's performance statistics have surpassed annual targets.
In the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014, Taiwan is ranked No. 30 in fighting organized crime, 13 places higher than a year before, and No. 13 in business costs of crime and violence, up 5 notches. Jiang attributed this improvement to law enforcement officers, thanked them for their hard work and encouraged them to continue bolstering public safety.
Regarding increasing narcotics trafficking and juvenile participation in gang activities, the premier asked the NPA to enhance preventive measures and the Ministry of Education to provide student counseling and maintain campus safety. Jiang also directed the MOJ to set up a timetable for amending the Organized Crime Prevention Act, with proposals to be submitted in the first half of 2014, and to work with the MOI to enhance investigative operations and curb organized crime.