The relationship between political development and police function in the Republic of China on Taiwan

This study examines the relationship between political development and the police function in Taiwan. Public safety has become the number one issue following recent economic growth and increasing crime rates. How police function can meet the changing environment in Taiwan is a priority in Taiwan's public policy agenda.; In general, police work can be classified into three functions: order maintenance, law enforcement, and service. Many scholars believe that the political system as a whole provides a framework for determining the police function. The degree of a country's political development is dependent on its economic, societal, and cultural levels. This study argues that during the last two and a half decades, Taiwan's police have evolved from an order maintenance oriented function to a law enforcement oriented one due to socioeconomic advancement. It has not developed toward a service oriented one largely due to traditional Chinese political culture and Taiwan's unique historical events.; Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used in this study. Twenty-two years of quantitative data (1971-1992) were collected on the national and local (county and city) level. While national data are helpful in monitoring the overall change, local data provide an opportunity to compare differences among communities. This study employs graphical displays and regression techniques (multiple regression and panel analysis) to analyze quantitative data. In addition, in-depth interviews were applied to collect qualitative data, because quantitative analysis has its limitations.; The empirical data show that the order maintenance function in Taiwan is declining, while the law enforcement function is rising, and a service function is emerging. Statistical results demonstrate that the relationships among independent and dependent variables are high. In explaining changes in order maintenance and law enforcement police functions, the regression analysis shows that socioeconomic factors may have a greater effect than political factors. Qualitative data identify that threats from the People's Republic of China, the national identity issue, and an insufficient autonomous political structure hampered the ability of the police to keep pace with socioeconomic changes. On the other hand, consciousness raising, the democratic movement, elite perception of the trend toward democracy, and police reform contribute toward advancing the order maintenance function to one of law enforcement one.; This study concludes that a service-oriented police function in Taiwan can be anticipated as long as the political reform can last. At the same time, it is important to maintain a harmonious Taiwan-PRC relationship, because the PRC is a key factor in Taiwan's political development.