Hierarchy Most actual law enforcement and day-to-day policing duties on a
city and county level are delegated to local police departments, which answer to the NPA but are considered agencies of their local government. However, the NPA has direct control over several specialized units which may be deployed to assist local forces, as well as the national
highway patrol. Unlike the
law enforcement in the United States, the central government appoints the head positions of
city and county police departments in the ROC and forms a solid chain of command for all police personnel. The Director-General of the NPA has full control over personnel rotation and transfer, as well as administrative commendations and reprimands over all high ranking police officers, including local police department chiefs. One exception is the President of the
Central Police University, who is directly subordinate to the Minister of the Interior and is not subject to the NPA personnel review board.
NPA Units In addition to its own internal administrative offices, the NPA has direct control over the following units and agencies:
Criminal Investigation Bureau The
Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) is responsible for the investigation of high-profile crimes,
forensics, and computer-related crimes. Its staff is split into the following groups: (CIB) Special Tactical Unit • Crime Prevention and Detection Command Center: Code-named Telephone Extension Number 8. • Crime Prevention Section • Crime Investigation Section • Anti-Hoodlum Section • Laws & Regulations Research Section • Criminal Records Section • International Criminal Affairs Section • INTERPOL Radio Center • Research & Development Office • Public Relations Office • Logistics Section • Secretariat • Internal Affairs Office • Public Security Office • Personnel Office • Accounting Office • Special Tactical Unit There are also nine active field police squads • 1st brigade: Homicide and unregistered weapons. • 2nd brigade: Robbery and sex-related crimes. • 3rd brigade: Controlled substances and organized crime. • 4th brigade: Burglary, kidnapping and blackmail. • 5th brigade: Bombs Disposal and Investigation. • 6th and 8th brigades: Rapid reaction units in central and southern Taiwan. • 7th brigade: Financial crimes. • 9th brigade: Cybercrimes. Two task-force-grouped centers include: It was formed on 6 April 2006. ::9th brigade ::Electronic surveillance and monitoring center (on cellular telephone networks in private corporations, such as FET) ::Information management office
Special Operations Group (SOG) There are seven individual Special Operations Groups, named the "Special Police Corps" (). They are mobile, rapid deployment police forces. They also execute various sentry duties and serve as a pool of reserve formations for police manpower. Three task-force-grouped SWAT units referred to as Peace Enforcing Special Service Forces or "Wei-An" Forces; literally “Safety Maintenance Special Mission Group” () officially translated into English as the Special Operations Group (SOG), the national counterterrorism unit consisting of the 1st, 4th, and 5th Special Operations Groups. The uniforms and equipment of the SOG units are similar to local
Police tactical unit (equivalent of
SWAT in the US), which are referred to in english as
Thunder Squads (). The Thunder Squads are subordinate to local police departments. However, the SOG Forces are the only police units equipped with
V-150S armor vehicles and M998
Humvee, which were transferred from the ROC Army after the 2004 shootout with .
The First Corps A training base for courses of on-the-job training and mobile task force.
Riot control,
Special Weapons and Tactics, counterterrorism in northern Taiwan. It commands six special police brigades and one
S.O.G "Wei-an" Forces (). Three brigades of conscripts, 2nd, 5th and 6th, served like
combat police in Korea, are usually deployed for
Riot control. • Corps Headquarters, 2nd, 3rd, 4th brigades, and one "Wei-An" Forces, are stationed in Si-pai,
Taipei City. • "Wei-an" Forces: Formed in June 1992. Its mission specialties are
counter-terrorism, high-profile hostage rescues, and presidential protection. These forces are composed of SWAT units divided into two companies, which are supported by the 3rd brigade. • 1st and 5th brigades are stationed in
Sanxia District,
New Taipei City. • The 6th brigade is stationed in
Bade District,
Taoyuan City.
The Second Corps There are 4 brigades commended by the
Ministry of Economic Affairs. It is for security duty of all governmental business units and
Taiwan Power Company under the Ministry of Economic Affairs and all
Science Parks of
National Science Council. • The first brigade is especially tasked for the
copyright protection and the enforcement of counterfeit and infringement in related to intellectual property. It is usually code-named Intellectual Property Protection Brigade. • The 2nd is to guard three nuclear power plants (Nuclear No.1, No.2, and No.4) of
Taiwan Power Company in
New Taipei City. • The 3rd is in northern Taiwan for the security duty of two Science Parks in
Hsinchu and
Taichung under
National Science Council, and the other industrial parks, import-export districts, and certain government installations of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. • The 4th is in southern Taiwan for the security duty of all governmental business installations under the National Science Council and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which includes one nuclear power plant: "Nuclear No.3."
The Third Corps It is a part of border police and provides supportive and supplemental duty of
Customs Services of
Ministry of Finance.
The Fourth Corps Riot control,
Special Weapons and Tactics,
counter-terrorism in central Taiwan. • "Wei-an" Forces: In March 2003, two more task force-sized SWAT groups of "Wei-an" Forces were formed. One of them is attached to the 4th Special Police Corps in Taichung, which is located in central Taiwan.
The Fifth Corps Riot control,
Special Weapons and Tactics,
counter-terrorism in southern Taiwan. • "Wei-an" Forces: In March 2003, two task-force SWAT groups were formed. One is attached to the 5th Special Police Corps in southern Taiwan.
The Sixth Corps Responsible for the physical security of central government buildings, high-ranking civilian officials, foreign embassies, and liaison institutes.
The Seventh Corps The Seventh Special Police Corps, 7SPC, was established on January 1, 2014, aiming to solve the growing problems of nature reservation, environment protection and forest and National Parks guarding. The structure of the 7SPC is similar to that of National Park Service rangers in the United States, who are government officials tasked with maintaining law and order.Their duties primarily involve the enforcement of the Forestry Act, the National Park Law, and the Environmental Protection Act.
Taiwan Special Police Corps There are 6 Special Police Brigades inherited from the late Taiwan Provincial Police Administration. • The first 3 brigades are for the security duty of 3 governmental financial banks:
Taiwan Land Bank, Taiwan Cooperative Bank, and
Bank of Taiwan. • The 4th is to guard the government installations related to the late Taiwan Province. • The 5th and 6th are attached to Water Resources Agency (水利署),
Ministry of Economic Affairs to protect the water supply and water-and-land-related environmental cases.
Civil Defense Force The Civil Defense Force (民防防情指揮管制所) is administered by the NPA.
Other NPA Units The Immigration Bureau (入出境管理局) was removed from NPA and reorganized as the
National Immigration Agency on 2 January 2007. •
National Highway Police Bureau (國道公路警察局): Jurisdiction over
national highways. •
Harbor Police Offices (港務警察局): Part of border police in Taiwan. There are four separate offices with jurisdictions over the ports of
Keelung,
Taichung,
Kaohsiung and
Hualien. •
Railway Police Bureau (鐵路警察局): Jurisdiction over stations and facilities of
Taiwan Railway (then
Taiwan Railway Administration) since 1949 and
Taiwan High Speed Rail since 26 December 2006. :The 1st section: facilities of
TR, north of
Taichung in western Taiwan :The 2nd section: facilities of
TR, south of
Taichung in western Taiwan :The 3rd section: facilities of
TR in eastern Taiwan :The
THSR section: facilities of
THSR •
Aviation Police Bureau (航空警察局): The Airport police is a part of border police and responsible for safeguarding, traffic administration, crime investigation, documents inspection, security examination etc. at local civil airports in the ROC. Its headquarters is at
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. •
National Park Police Corps (國家公園警察大隊): Jurisdiction over the
national parks, specialization in
search and rescue operations. •
Taiwan Police College •
Police Armory (警察機械修理廠) •
Police Telecommunications Office (警察電訊所) •
Police Radio Station (警察廣播電臺): A government public radio station run by civilians. It broadcasts regular radio show programs, news, and real-time traffic situations.
Task-Force Formations under NPA By separate decrees of The
Executive Yuan, three task-force formations, each consisting of approximately two hundred police officers with different specialties, is formed under the National Police Agency but attached to two cabinet-level institutions or other units. •
Telecommunication Police Corps (電信警察隊): In January 1998, a task force called the "Telecommunication Police Corps" was formed and attached to the
Ministry of Transportation and Communications. Since 2 February 2006, the Telecommunication Police Corps are re-attached to the
National Communication Commission. Its job is to enforce laws concerning the radio spectrum and telecommunications. •
Environmental Protection Police Corps (環保警察隊): It was formed in 1999 and is attached to the
Environmental Protection Administration. There are currently 192 policemen serving as Environmental Protection Police and assigned to three brigades at
Taipei City,
Taichung City and
Fongshan City in Northern, Central and Southern Taiwan, respectively. •
Forest & Nature Conservation Police Unit (森林暨自然保育警察隊): This was formed with 178 policemen on 1 July 2004 by the decree of the
Executive Yuan on 6 August 2003, after ten forest arson cases in the mountain area of
Taichung County (now part of
Taichung City) within six years. It is attached to the Forest Bureau of the Council of Agriculture. Besides its headquarters in
Taipei City, there are eight squadrons in Taiwan mountain area. Its main task is to support the forest patrolmen to preserve and protect the ecology system and all historic monuments in all the forests in Taiwan.
Ranks Rank insignias are worn over the right breast pocket when in uniform. The rank system of the National Police Agency is as follows: Before 1999, the lowest-grade street policemen held the rank of Police Officer II, denoted by an insignia of two stars on one horizontal bar, sometimes referred to colloquially as "一毛二" or "one dime and two cents." On 3 March 1999, an adjustment of "the table of police positions and corresponding ranks" or "各級警察機關學校警察官職務配階表", from the Ministry of Interior resulted in regular policemen or women on street holding the rank of Senior Police Officer, denoted by "three stars on one horizontal bar", nicknamed "一毛三" or "one dime and three cents." To emphasize the independence of the ranks and the professions, the rank of ROC police may not perfectly match their positions in a station. In 2007, a highest rank above Police Supervisor Rank 1 is created for the highest position, Police General, who is in charge of and oversees the public safety of the entire nation. == Equipment ==