Long working hours, high risk, life expectancy for police 18 shorter than average

Police officer has played an important role in maintaining social security and public safety. Their existence brings stability and safety for our society. Ironically, people seem to play little attention to police officer’s own safety and health. Police work itself has always been high risk. Lack of enough police officer continue to make their working conditions worse. The stereotype of police, however, makes people to largely ignore the long working hours and high risks of their job and what these factors have brought to their physical and physiological health. Statistics show that the average life expectancy for police officer is 62, 18 years shorter than the average life expectancy of people in Taiwan, which stood at 80.86. Another internal statistic provided by the National Police Agency show that from 2009 to 2018, a total of 62 active duty police officers committed suicide. This shows that their long working hours have sacrificed their holidays and time to spend with their families as well as their health and wellbeing.

Regular overtime work

Article 15 of the Police Duty Act stipulates that “a normal tour of duty is eight hours a day. If necessary, it can be extended and the length of duties is subject to the situation.” However, it becomes almost regular to extend the length of police duties due to the lack of enough manpower and heavy workload. According to a 2016 survey released by the Taiwan Police Union, entry-level police officers in Taiwan on average work an extra 80 hours a month. Their fragmented working hours and irregular shifts often mean that they would have only less than three hours of rest before starting their next shift.

Current rules stipulate that public servant stipulate that they need to take two days off a week. However, Regulations of Implementation Program for the Civil Servants Two-Day Weekend also give flexibility to those working in “Public Transportation, Police, Fire Department, Coast Guard, Medical Services, Customs, and other Government Departments, must provide service to the public all year round and so must implement the necessary shift systems (alternate duty / day-off).”

The two most commonly seen shifts for police in Taiwan are "Da Lun Fan (Irregular schedule)” and “two-shift operation.” “Da Lun Fan” means that their everyday shifts are different and are divided into different shifts (each precinct has its own rules), such as two days off after five days on duty, one day off after three days on duty, and four days off after 12 days on duty. “Two-shift operation” means one need to work for 10 or 12 hours straight in a day and have his or her schedule changed once or twice a week. For instance, one works from 09:00-21:00 this week before changing into 21:00-09:00 shift next week. Such fragmented and irregular working hours mean a police officer is unable to have sufficient rest which also disrupt his or her daily routine. 

Shift work violated the constitutional rights

The decades-long unreasonable shift work of police officers could finally change following the release of Constitutional Interpretation No. 785 on Nov. 29, 2019. The interpretation rules that a review of relevant health-related provisions on personnel with special work characteristics, including police officers, was necessary, including an upper limit on the number of working hours, had to be made by related authorities within three years.

Following two-plus years’ widespread discussions, a new working hour regulation for police titled “Implementation Directions for Police Institution workers’ shift work” officially took effect starting Jan. 1, 2023. According to the directions, a police officer can only work a maximum of 8 hours of regular shift, plus another 2 to 4 hours of extra working hours, on a daily basis. Maximum overtime working hour is set at 80 hours per month and a police officer is required to take at least 11 consecutive hours of rest between shifts. 

However, the new system also has its loophole. The new rules stipulate that police officers serving as head or deputy of a station, working at criminal investigation, remote police station with dorm and those serving in rural mountainous areas could work a maximum 16 hours a day or a maximum of 240 hours in three months. This again means that a police officer is allowed to work overtime over 80 hours a month as long as his or her maximum working hours do not surpass 240 in a three-month span. Meanwhile, during major parade and rally, police is required to be on duty 24/7. The new rules do not give regulation on such shift. It means that police officers are still allowed to work overtime legally surpassing the maximum working hours that constitutes as death from overwork. In other words, it means that police have been exposed to death from overwork risk under the new laws. 

Police officers overworked amid staffing shortages

The main reason for the long working hours of police officers in Taiwan is due to staffing shortages. According to the National Policy Agency (NPA), there are a total of 75,000 police officers in Taiwan, a country with a population of 23.5 million. Therefore, the police-population ratio in Taiwan stands at 314. According to NPA, the ratio is acceptable comparing with the United States 471, United Kingdom 449, France 443, Japan 481, Korea 421 and Singapore 404. It is relatively short of staff comparing with Germany at 249. 

However, according to the NPA, the six municipalities in Taiwan, namely, Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, are supposed to have a police-population ratio of around 350. Yet, with the only exception of Taipei that stands at 357, other five municipalities all have 400-plus police-population ratio with the number of Taoyuan stands as high as 581. The numbers in Taiwanese cities, comparing with other major metropolitans around the world, such as 259 in London, 201 in Berlin, 166 in New York, are extremely high in terms of police-population ratio. This means that a police officer in Taiwan has to take care of 400 to 500 civilians, leading to his or her overwork.

There is plenty of room for improvement for police in Taiwan in terms of equipment, or manpower. To ordinary people, police is the driving force to maintain social orders and stability. However, the working environment for Taiwan’s police is not favorable and still has much room for improvement. Current laws in Taiwan continue to forbid local police officers from forming a union. But other countries such as U.S., U.K., Germany, Canada and Australia, have all formed police unions already. It is therefore important to push for the ultimate goal of forming a police union in Taiwan to protect their rights. In offering better protection to the wellbeing of the police officer, it will also lead to better protection to the safety and wellbeing of the ordinary citizens they protect.

Shift work violated the constitutional rights

The decades-long unreasonable shift work of police officers could finally change following the release of Constitutional Interpretation No. 785 on Nov. 29, 2019. The interpretation rules that a review of relevant health-related provisions on personnel with special work characteristics, including police officers, was necessary, including an upper limit on the number of working hours, had to be made by related authorities within three years.

Following two-plus years’ widespread discussions, a new working hour regulation for police titled “Implementation Directions for Police Institution workers’ shift work” officially took effect starting Jan. 1, 2023. According to the directions, a police officer can only work a maximum of 8 hours of regular shift, plus another 2 to 4 hours of extra working hours, on a daily basis. Maximum overtime working hour is set at 80 hours per month and a police officer is required to take at least 11 consecutive hours of rest between shifts. 

However, the new system also has its loophole. The new rules stipulate that police officers serving as head or deputy of a station, working at criminal investigation, remote police station with dorm and those serving in rural mountainous areas could work a maximum 16 hours a day or a maximum of 240 hours in three months. This again means that a police officer is allowed to work overtime over 80 hours a month as long as his or her maximum working hours do not surpass 240 in a three-month span. Meanwhile, during major parade and rally, police is required to be on duty 24/7. The new rules do not give regulation on such shift. It means that police officers are still allowed to work overtime legally surpassing the maximum working hours that constitutes as death from overwork. In other words, it means that police have been exposed to death from overwork risk under the new laws. 

Police officers overworked amid staffing shortages

The main reason for the long working hours of police officers in Taiwan is due to staffing shortages. According to the National Policy Agency (NPA), there are a total of 75,000 police officers in Taiwan, a country with a population of 23.5 million. Therefore, the police-population ratio in Taiwan stands at 314. According to NPA, the ratio is acceptable comparing with the United States 471, United Kingdom 449, France 443, Japan 481, Korea 421 and Singapore 404. It is relatively short of staff comparing with Germany at 249. 

However, according to the NPA, the six municipalities in Taiwan, namely, Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, are supposed to have a police-population ratio of around 350. Yet, with the only exception of Taipei that stands at 357, other five municipalities all have 400-plus police-population ratio with the number of Taoyuan stands as high as 581. The numbers in Taiwanese cities, comparing with other major metropolitans around the world, such as 259 in London, 201 in Berlin, 166 in New York, are extremely high in terms of police-population ratio. This means that a police officer in Taiwan has to take care of 400 to 500 civilians, leading to his or her overwork.

There is plenty of room for improvement for police in Taiwan in terms of equipment, or manpower. To ordinary people, police is the driving force to maintain social orders and stability. However, the working environment for Taiwan’s police is not favorable and still has much room for improvement. Current laws in Taiwan continue to forbid local police officers from forming a union. But other countries such as U.S., U.K., Germany, Canada and Australia, have all formed police unions already. It is therefore important to push for the ultimate goal of forming a police union in Taiwan to protect their rights. In offering better protection to the wellbeing of the police officer, it will also lead to better protection to the safety and wellbeing of the ordinary citizens they protect.