上班族必備軟實力

[I didn’t do it.]

Taiwan is a safe country, but they do have criminal activity. Petty crimes happen everyday, but once in a while, there is a big crime that gets covered in all the papers and television news programs. Even more than seeing it happen on TV, you can detect the tensions out in the naked streets of a trembling city.

There was that time when police were stopping all the cars coming driving over the bridge between Taipei and Yonghe. The officers had scary looking rifles slung over their shoulders and they shined flashlights into the cars and looked at all the passengers. They were looking for a group of murdering kidnappers. It was 1997.

The kidnappers had taken the daughter of a local celebrity, and murdered her. They managed to elude police and commit more crimes as they ran, but finally, after several shootouts, two of the three fugitives were killed by the police. The last survivor escaped and held the ambassador of South Africa and his family hostage. Although several were shot, the ambassador’s family escaped with their lives. The remaining criminal was tried, sentenced, and executed in accordance with Taiwan law.

 

Once, there was a political assassination when a guy with a black motor scooter helmet walked into a busy Taipei restaurant and shot dead a local politician. The guy then got on his cycle, drove around the corner, and ran out of gas. He wore black clothes and a black helmet with a dark visor so nobody could see him on the cameras. He may have gotten away if he only had thought to gas up his scooter first, because once the police had the scooter, tracking down the owner was a piece of cake, but he never gave up the name of who it was that hired him.

Changing lanes without signaling is another apparently severe crime in Taiwan. I got a ticket for doing that. It was issued with a series of still pictures as proof of my serious infraction. I’m glad they didn’t send the SWAT team to my house, but I’m still upset about it.

These are just a sample of some of the things that happen here. Taiwan has a competent police force and many concerned citizens to help keep order. Thank you for reading.