TAIPEI: The fatal stabbing of a policeman in Taiwan by a man he had arrested has ignited debate about the training police officers are given and procedures they are told to follow, with some politicians demanding higher ranking authorities be held responsible.

The 27-year-old policeman, Lai Chih-yen, from the Zhongshan District police force in Taipei, was stabbed more than 10 times in his patrol car by a wanted criminal he had arrested on Monday.

He had been dispatched to help colleague Cheng Min-hung apprehend the 50-year-old Dai Wei-hua, who had been identified by Cheng as being wanted during a night patrol operation.

During the arrest, Dai was not handcuffed; he was even placed with both hands free in the backseat of Lai's patrol car in which there was only a metal bar separating the front seats from the rear.

Moreover, Lai drove alone to bring the suspect back to the police station, with Cheng following on a scooter behind Lai's car.

When Lai pulled up in front of the Dazhih Police Station, Lai was attacked by the suspect with a fruit knife. He died hours later at a nearby hospital.

The tragedy has shocked society, with people blaming the loss of a young life on negligence and mistakes.

The Legislative Yuan yesterday also engaged in passionate debates about the questions Lai's death has raised, including who should be responsible for the incident and how should those responsible be punished.

"The punishment is too moderate," said Legislator Wu Yu-sheng of the ruling Kuomintang, while commenting on a district police chief's being disciplined with a record of minor demerits for failed leadership.

Wu said someone should step down to take responsibility for Lai's death.

However, Jiang Yi-huah, head of the internal affairs authorities, told the legislature that the incident happened because standard police procedures had not been strictly followed.

"It was a deadly mistake," Jiang said.

He pointed out that the police officers violated many rules, including failing to perform a body search on the suspect and not handcuffing him. They also neglected to ensure there were two officers in the car while transporting the suspect.

After the incident, the "National Police Agency" - the top police authority of Taiwan - ordered all local police forces to undergo additional training on proper procedures, Jiang noted.

Zhongshan District police chief Wang Ching-lin, Dazhih station chief Lu Ching-an and his deputy Chen Kuo-lung, and the other officer Cheng have all been disciplined in different degrees for failing to carry out their duties. Dazhih police chief Lu has also been transferred to another post.

Yeh Yu-lan, a professor at Central Police University, blamed the government for being too stingy to invest more money in police officers' education and training.

Yeh said that it is common for students at police academies to focus on getting high scores on paper tests so they can qualify to work as police officers, but added that they are given few training courses that teach them how to respond under different scenarios that simulate real-life police work.

The graduates therefore are mostly armchair officers who are not capable of handling real-life criminals when they graduate, she said.

Lai began his police career in January 2009 after passing the police qualification examination, and Chen had not joined the police force until this July.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 11/12/2009 page2)