From Vertical Accountability to Horizontal Accountability: A Study on the Operation of Minister’s Email Account from the Perspective of Independence
Chih-Peng Chang, Hongwung Wang, Yi-Ching Tsai*
Abstract
This study aims to investigate the operation of minister's email account of National Police Agency from the perspectives of accountability and independence principle. The results show that the National Police Agency takes police complaints seriously. It establishes the working rules and related rewards and punishments, requires senior-ranking police officers to make final decisions, processes all complaints without exceptions, and responds in a short time. These arrangements increase the workloads and pressure of police officers. However, citizens are not satisfied.
The study finds that the police have responsibility for all aspects of complaint investigations without any involvement of outsiders. As a result, the complaint processing agency is not independent and citizens who do not trust the procedures will seek help from others, such as legislative members and the mass media. The current complaint processing mechanisms are lack of horizontal accountability. It is recommended that the government should establish an independent police complaint processing unit to strengthen horizontal accountability in order to increase public trust and to achieve the goal of democratic governance.
Keywords: minister's email account, petition, complaint processing, accountability, independence
* Chih-Peng Chang, Officer of Secretariat Office, National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior, email: zepom.tw@yahoo.com.tw; Hongwung Wang, Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Public Affairs, National Taiwan University, email: hongwung@ntu.edu.tw; Yi-Ching Tsai, Graduate student, Graduate Institute of Public Affairs, ational Taiwan University, email: r04343003@ntu.edu.tw.