President Ma Ying-jeou on the morning of November 10 met with the team that represented the ROC at the 14th World Police & Fire Games, and congratulated the team on its outstanding performance at the event.
The president noted that the World Police & Fire Games dates back to 1985 when they were first held in California, and the biennial event has come to be known as the Olympics for law enforcement officers. This year's gaes were held between August 26 and September 5 in New York City, with some 18,000 competitors from 70 nations taking part. The number of participants in this year's games increased by over 7,000 from the previous edition held in Vancouver, Canada, he said.
President Ma commented that though the ROC team to the games comprised only 42 individuals, which was seven fewer than at the previous edition, team members put in an outstanding performance, winning a total of 99 medals, including 41 golds, 33 silvers, and 25 bronzes. While the number of gold medals won by the team fell modestly from the previous games in Vancouver, the total number of medals won by the team increased, he stated.
The president furthermore said that Hurricane Irene swept through the eastern part of the United States during the course of the games, causing major changes to the schedules for the various events. Nonetheless, the team from the ROC continued to make every effort and turned in an excellent performance. In the shooting competition, the ROC team won 15 gold medals, eight silvers, and six bronzes. The team performed even better in the biathlon events, winning five golds and one silver, the president noted.
President Ma stated that the ROC team's participation in the World Police & Fire Games is based on the Olympics model, meaning that the team played under the name "Chinese Taipei." Nonetheless, the ROC team participated in the opening ceremonies using the ROC national flag, the same as during the previous games in Vancouver. Furthermore, the ROC flag was printed on the ID badges of people affiliated with the ROC team, which highlights participation in the event by the ROC. This was extremely significant, he said. Mainland China also sent a team to participate in the event, which indicates that the ROC government's "viable diplomacy" policy has not only helped to strengthen cross-strait relations, but also has yielded the nation positive results in international affairs. He mentioned that he hopes this virtuous circle of mutual respect will continue, and he was pleased that the ROC and its national flag were introduced to friends throughout the world.
The president stated that the National Police Agency in 1995 introduced a new method of reporting and handling cases, and this year we saw the lowest crime rate since then, and also achieved a record-high percentage of solved cases. In addition, public opinion polls show that from 2002 to 2007, the satisfaction rate with the overall state of law and order was only about 30%, with the rate in 2007 only at 25.93%. However, in 2008 the satisfaction rate rose to above 30% and has remained there since. In terms of satisfaction in counties and cities, the rate in 2010 was 69.35%, compared with 59.34% in 2007. This 10 percentage point rise shows that the public has become increasingly satisfied with the state of law and order here over the past three years, he said. In particular, the number of scams has declined since the two sides of the Taiwan Strait signed an Agreement on Joint Cross-strait Crime-fighting and Mutual Judicial Assistance. The number of scams has fallen from a high of over 43,000 to 24,000 this year, with the amount of money swindled in those schemes having dropped from a high of NT$18.5 billion in 2006 to NT$4.6 billion this year. The president stressed that the government will continue to do its utmost to combat crime. He said he previously specially instructed the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency to work more closely together on collecting evidence in order to raise the conviction rate and prevent criminals from getting away with crimes.
President Ma said that physical strength translates into national strength . He expressed his hope that the percentage of policemen, firemen, coast guard, and rescue personnel who pass a standard swimming test will reach 85%, as this will further boost the public's confidence in law enforcement officials.
The team members were led by team leader Lin Kuo-tung (林國棟) to the Presidential Office to meet with President Ma.