I. The Origin of the Department of Special Police

Critical infrastructure is vital to national security, economic development, government operation, and people's lives, and it is also a key point to the country's sustainable development. Due to the increasing importance of critical infrastructure protection in Taiwan, the requirement and training of national all-around professionals of protection management are without delay. Thus, our department is the only one in Taiwan that specializes in nurturing professionals on critical infrastructure protection at the central government level. It aims to nurture and train police cadres to possess basic academic skills and self-defense strategies to deal with international situations becoming increasingly severe, to join the relevant government departments to ensure the critical infrastructure of Taiwan in the future, to integrate the system of disaster prevention and the risk management of national security to further consolidate national security and sustainable development of the social economy.

II. Core Purpose of Education

Our department is one of the advanced police academic research departments and a pioneer specializing in nurturing professionals for critical infrastructure protection. The development direction and mission orientation focus on providing education channels to nurture the security police professionals in critical infrastructure, to train future police cadres with the systematic analysis ability, protection skills, and management knowledge on critical infrastructure, especially the knowledge and skills of risk assessment, vulnerability analysis, resilience analysis, disaster response and preparation for critical infrastructure protection, In addition to effectively increasing the research quality on homeland security, it can also enhance the ability and administrative efficiency of public and private sectors of critical infrastructure to carry out critical infrastructure protection and crisis management for the national professionals, and at the same time construct a localized academic culture of security police protection system.

III. Study (Research) Courses

The courses of our department emphasize theory and practice, based on crisis awareness such as “existential threat” and “run scared.” Through systematic police training and management knowledge, students are taught to understand and become familiar with the steps of analyzing crisis issues and have the ability to deal with crisis factors, such as domestic and foreign threats, damage to critical infrastructure, etc. That is, the risk assessment (analysis), security protection and police professional courses are the main core, supplemented by general education courses, to strengthen the qualifications and skills of law enforcement for future police cadres, in coordination with the police duty demands of security tasks for critical infrastructure. Adhering to the spirit of “Don't rely on the enemy's failure to come, but rely on we are well prepared,” the professional training courses of our department are listed as follows:

1. Common Required and General Education Courses:

For strengthening professional knowledge, the required courses of our department include Chinese, English, Constitution and Human Protection, Gender Equality and Police Practices, Psychology, Police Administration, Police Issues, Traffic Accident Processing (including Traffic Laws), Danger Processing of the Citizens Demonstration, Police Situational Practice, Professional Police English, Police Document-Writing and Practice, Introduction to Law, General Principles of Criminal Law, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law, The Law of Criminal Evidence, Police Related Law, Introduction to Computer Science, Research on Criminal Investigation, and Administrative Law. In addition, General Education Courses involve culture, society, and natural science. The educational objective is to nurture the “Holistic Police.”

2. Required (Elective) Education Courses for Professional Police:

To achieve the Four Responsibilities of Police, our department plans professional courses based on the functions and attributes of police duty, including Criminology, An Introduction to Forensic Science, Traffic Police, Various Police Systems, Criminal Policy, and Public Security Police. In addition, Elective Courses involve Police Communication Equipment, Police Social Work, Police Special Techniques, Criminal Psychology, Community Policing, Police Public Relations, Special Police, Crime Scene and Evidence Processing, Selected Topics of Police Field Service, Police Practice, Crime Scene Reconstruction, Crisis Processing and Risk Management, and Management of Decision and Security, to nurture the “Professional Police” as the objective of police duty.

3. Combat Skills Courses for Professional Subjects:

To improve physical fitness and effectively carry out police duties in the future, our department plans comprehensive technical courses related to physical skills and shooting, including various practical police combat skills such as Wrestling, Shooting, Judo, Comprehensive Arrest Tactics, Kendo, and Taekwondo, so that students can freely practice police skills that meet their characteristics to ensure their safety on duty in the future, and at the same time to enhance the police capacity to combat damage to critical infrastructure effectively.

4. Education Courses for Nurturing Cadres and Loyal Service

All students in our department live on campus at public expense. Through the spiritual inheritance of the senior and junior system, they can establish the correct values, sense of responsibility, justice, honor, and patriotic sentiments of the royalty and patriotism, to develop the central idea, the correct outlook on life, morality, and code of conduct, and to nurture police personalities with loyal and patriotic, honest and incorruptible, be able to distinctions between right and wrong, and be proactive and defensive.

5. Practice Courses for Technology Investigation and Scientific Experiment

To meet the practice needs of technology investigation, our department guides students to take scientific experimental courses such as Criminal Forensics, Physics, Chemistry, Electronics, Biology, Psychology, Forensics, Fingerprints, Photography, and Firearms Examination, at the same time teaches the latest application techniques of technology investigation to enhance the professionalism capabilities on critical infrastructure protection in Taiwan.

6. Internship Courses of On-Site Visits in Summer:

During the summer vacation, the students of our department are assigned to the police administrations or specific agencies (such as the Counter-Terrorism Training Center, the Aviation Police Bureau, and the National Highway Police Bureau), to observe the police services and police tasks of critical infrastructure protection units in person, and combining the protection theory with police practice through internship training, to lay the foundation for becoming police cadres of critical infrastructure in the future and have the function of integrating teaching with application.

IV. Academic Research (Exchange)

1. Regularly conduct academic seminars to strengthen academic research on critical infrastructure protection.

Our department plans the future through a forward-looking vision, by regularly holding various academic seminars, attending police academic organizations, and research activities in domestic and foreign events, such as Traditional Security, Non-Traditional Security, Intelligence Study, Homeland Security, Policing and Security, Immigration Policy, Border Management, Criminal Prevention, Police Politics Management, and Community Policing, to inspire students to prepare for special examinations or expand international horizons, furthermore, to construct a localized academic research system on critical infrastructure protection.

2. Construct cross-department learning, research, and exchanges to enhance the visibility of local infrastructure protection.

In addition to regularly issuing the academic journal “Security Police and Homeland Security,” our department is entrusted by government agencies or private enterprise organizations for research projects on issues related to critical infrastructure protection, and conducts overseas visits and exchanges or further studies as appropriate, to broaden students' macro-vision and learn the knowledge of the critical infrastructure protection in advanced countries. Moreover, teachers and students are encouraged to strengthen international academic research and submit academic papers, or participate in the study tours and exchange activities of related foreign sister schools at their own expense, deep learning the service models of law enforcement officers and state-of-the-art equipment, and at the same time to improve their English skills and international competitiveness.

V. Future Career Development

As alumni are widely distributed in the National Security Bureau (Council), the National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior, the Investigation Bureau, Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of National Defense, the National Immigration Agency, the Legislative Yuan, the Coast Guard Administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, administrative agencies, academic research institutions and private enterprises, etc. To implement the “Experience Inheritance” of excellent orthodoxy, our department regularly invites well-known alumni to return to the school to share their experiences, which not only serves as a “Link between the Past and the Future,” but also provides students with experience inheritance in employment or further education after graduation. Furthermore, it can broaden students’ horizons, unleash the spirit of “Follow the example of a virtuous and wise teacher,” and in the future, whether they are actively engaged in or promoting critical infrastructure protection in Taiwan during their police career, or transitioning to high-tech precision industries highly related to critical infrastructure, they are able to leverage their expertise to contribute to the country and society.