Outlaws in Taichung

By Mia Shanley

Bad things happen in threes. I thought of this the third time my friend told me that he had yet his third bike stolen from the streets of Taipei.
At first, I was sure that he had already told me that story one week earlier.
"No, that was the second one," he replied.
I finally caught on to the fact that indeed, there was at one brief span of time, a third bicycle. And I understood from the tone in his voice that the bicycle didn't exist anymore. I remember feeling so sorry that he had to invest in yet another set of wheels from Carrefour.
It does not get much better outside the capital city. In Taichung -- the city of sunshine -- I was robbed of NT$10,000 recently. They left me my wallet but cleared me of everything else , including my phone cards and coins. Not a single copper Chiang Kai-shek in sight. The thieves had jimmied a lock on my friend's trunk and made away with all of our goods.
Theft in Taiwan is a terrible problem but in Taichung, it is nearly out of control. Often, I can't help but think of Taichung as some kind of outback with too many outlaws when in fact, it has great potential to be a true international city.
On Wen Hsin Road, at a modern, well-lit and guarded apartment complex, a friend's scooter was taken in front of the complex while another was robbed as she parked her own behind the building. Just months earlier, two people were robbed after someone managed to climb up to the 4th and 5th floors to break in through their sliding doors.
On one of the busiest intersections -- Taichung Harbor Road and Chungming Road -- another scooter was stolen during broad daylight while the owner worked just 50 feet away. Not too far away, someone shattered the window of another car to steal everything in it.
On Kungyi Road, after a peaeful three-hour tea-drinking session, a friend set her purse down to offer a hug goodbye and when she turned around, it was gone. I remember trying to pick out the most curious looking tea-drinkers in the joint, but it was a hopeless search. My friend had just received her salary in cash. She lost it all.
Of course, theft occurs in most major cities. Purse robberies and scooter thefts happen. Bad people exist. Good people lose out. But the law does not come near to ruling the streets of Taichung, the third largest city on the island.
Taichung, with a population of nearly one million on the weekdays, ought to have better protection from the police. At present, there is tremendous amount of apathy.
After my friend's car was robbed, we hit the police station, where the officers offered little, if any help to our situation. As we walked into the department, we caught one officer munching on his bian-dong (lunch box) as another behind him played solitaire on a computer. When I asked if his department made rounds in the area where the car was broken into, he had the nerve to tell me that his department was already pushed to its limits and that they did not have time to make hourly checks. I would have said something about his colleague playing on the computer had I been able to say the word "solitaire" in Chinese.
I received a similar apathetic response at the building on Wen Hsin Road when I asked the guard to contact the police. I was shocked when he started fumbling for a phone number. After searching for what seemed to be an eternity, he finally chose to call information. When I asked him what he would have done in an emergency situation he just laughed awkwardly and returned to his television set. The moral to the story? Until Taichung shapes up, watch your own back.