Second Edition of the Duty Safety Council Convenes, Focusing on Rationalizing Overtime Pay Standards and Optimizing Equipment

(Central News Agency reporter Kao Hua-chien, Taipei, 13th) The Ministry of the Interior held the first committee meeting of the 2nd 'Council for Promoting Duty Safety and Incident Investigation for Police and Firefighters (Duty Safety Council)' today, focusing on 10 priority issues to be addressed this year. These include reviewing and amending the system for legal assistance to police officers involved in public-service-related lawsuits, rationalizing the standards for overtime pay disbursement, strengthening safety protection measures for officers handling drug-impaired driving cases, and optimizing duty equipment for frontline personnel.

After taking office, Minister of the Interior Liu Shih-fang established the 'Council for Promoting Duty Safety and Incident Investigation for Police and Firefighters (Duty Safety Council)' in 2024, aiming to improve and optimize police and fire services and organizational culture through the perspectives of external experts and scholars, to build a safer and more supportive working environment.

In a press release, the Ministry of the Interior stated that Minister Liu presided over the first committee meeting of the 2nd Duty Safety Council and presented appointment letters to all committee members.

Minister Liu emphasized that the 2nd Duty Safety Council will continue building on previous achievements to further enhance duty safety management and rights protection systems for police, fire, immigration, and air rescue personnel. The Council has established four specialized task groups: the Police Issues Group, Fire Issues Group, Rights and Safety Assurance Group, and Incident Investigation Group, each proposing priority issues for discussion.

Liu stated that the 'Police Issues Group' is focusing on amending the system for legal assistance to officers involved in public-service-related lawsuits, rationalizing overtime pay disbursement standards, and considering including Southeast Asian languages in foreign affairs law enforcement officers' language certification and training subsidy programs. The 'Fire Issues Group' is concentrating on establishing operational methods and standardized frameworks for 'Rehabilitation and Health After Duty (R.E.H.A.B.)' mechanisms across all counties and cities, establishing management systems for exposure to hazardous substances at fire scenes, and reviewing response time efficiency for firefighters.

The 'Rights and Safety Assurance Group' is focusing on protecting the health rights of shift workers, strengthening safety protection measures for officers handling drug-impaired driving cases, and reviewing the current operation of counseling mechanisms. The 'Incident Investigation Group' is focusing on optimizing duty equipment for immigration and police frontline personnel, analyzing individual cases to identify systemic issues, and proposing improvement measures to enhance frontline officers' duty safety.

The Ministry noted that the 2nd Duty Safety Council has appointed 26 committee members, including experts and scholars in mental and physical healthcare, occupational safety, law, and police/fire specialties, senior retired police and firefighters, and representatives of frontline personnel. The term of appointment is two years, with over 53% female representation, over 30% youth representatives under 40 years old, and as high as 50% current frontline personnel, ensuring a diverse and representative composition.

The Ministry stated that the Duty Safety Council will continue to dynamically review issues, integrating expert insights and frontline practical experience to examine relevant systems and measures, implement reform initiatives, and comprehensively enhance frontline personnel's duty safety, occupational health, and rights protection. (Edited by Lin Hsing-meng) 1150713