Chen Hsiu-feng, born in 1957, is in charge of the crime prevention unit of the Women's Police Branch of the Taipei City Police Headquarters. She frequents schools and private organizations to teach self-protection skills. She notes that the prevention of sexual aggression and the handling of family violence constitute two major jobs of the Women's Police Branch. Quoting a public security slogan, "Though the police force is limited, the force of the public is limitless," she hopes that people will put more trust in the police, thereby contributing to better relations.
I chose to be a police officer for personal and economic reasons. Born into a family of eight children, I wanted to enter a tuition-free school that could ensure a job for me in order to ease the economic pressures of my family. In addition, my fascination with the sprightly image of my brother, a military man wearing a uniform, put me in favor of a similar profession. After graduating from high school, I took entrance examinations for military and police schools. So here I am.
As a police school student, I had many classmates who did not all look at their school life and future job from the same point of view. At school women received exactly the same training that the men did. This unexpected arrangement of training courses somewhat surprised me, but soon I got used to it and suffered little pressure, even gaining some weight, for I had a favorable feeling toward my future career.
It was when I began my duty as a member of the police force that considerable pressure resulting from hard work came to find me. People tend to think that policewomen will be assigned office work or easy missions like taking care of children and old people. In fact, they perform duties similar to those of their male counterparts--patrolling the streets and investigat ing criminal cases, for example.
Twenty-two years have passed since I entered police school, and I have been getting along quite well with this meaning ful job. Just as any police officer, I feel frustrated when a criminal case defies solution and delighted when people's needs are satisfied through our efforts.
With regard to my family life, I think I am a lucky lady. I married a considerate husband who helps with the housework when I am on duty, have two children who don't blame me when I come home late at night or am called back to work on holidays, and have a mother-in-law who lives with us and helps run the household. While I wouldn't say that complaints from my family about my prolonged work hours do not exist, these are outweighed by their loving concern.
Policewomen tend to marry later in life. On account of their special working requirements such as nightshifts, it's harder for them to achieve agreement on marital terms than it is for women in other professions. Fortunately, most of my married colleagues enjoy smooth and pleasant relations with their spouses, as premarital communication has prepared the couple for a life of mutual understanding and assistance.
Maybe I can talk a bit about my philosophy of child discipline and education. I think I am an open-minded parent who does not impose her own expectations upon her children. Without going astray from socially recognized moral standards, my children can grow up, go their own way, and shape their own lives. One of my children is now a drama major at an art college. By the way, if any of my children wanted to join the police force, I would not object. I would just want to tell them about my experience, to prepare their young mind for a profession that requires patience and earnestness.
If you were to ask me about the perceived imbalance of power between men and women in the police force, I would say that it is a social phenomenon not unique to my profession alone. However, the emergence of women in the workforce has been a universal trend that cannot be ignored by any establishment. Except for a weakness in terms of physical strength in comparison with men, a policewoman is just as competent as a policeman in performing her duties. Many female police officers I know are good examples.
One project I am actively working on has had a real impact on my attitude toward society. While teaching self-protection skills at schools and organizations, I've made direct contact with people and found reasons they were victimized by an accident or crime. As a result, I've become more responsive to people's needs, more perceptive to the subtle implications of social developments, and I'm beginning to show even more concern toward society. Under my influence, perhaps, some of my friends have started to think and act in a similar fashion.
I don't dance, and I can't sing, either. Almost without exception, what I do during my leisure time has something to do with my job. It's a little crazy. I enjoy movies--films featuring criminals, police officers, or spies are my favorite. There was a movie of that genre, Shining Through, which I saw three times. In addition, I read detective stories and collect newspaper clippings about social disturbances to do case studies. Now I am editing the information I have been gathering all these years. The result will be a reference book for the police.
I don't know how the young generation thinks and feels, but I hope that they will see the police force as something more than simply a painstaking job, and that they won't be afraid of joining it. Being a police officer, unlike the stereotype, is more like the service industry in that it involves a lot more effort than unpleasant deeds like fining people and driving away unlicensed peddlers. We try to tell the people how to protect themselves, and what assistance and shelters they can turn to if they become crime victims. Society has many things to care about, and a policewoman can do a lot for it.