Since 1949, over 9000 police officers have died, and 100 thousand
have been injured in line of duty. In last two decades alone, China
has seen 6,000 police officers perish and tens of thousands injured
while safeguarding public security. The dramatic loss of police
officers has been increasing annually. In the first half of 2002,
the Ministry of Public Security has already registered a loss of
229 police officers and 2826 injuries.
In
the special "Anti-robbery operation", 1.6 million police officers
nationwide were called on to wage a massive campaign to combat
theft related crimes with remarkable results. However, the police
force sustained substantial losses along the way. Professor Wang
Dawei of the Chinese People's Public Security University said that
the police force in China has the smallest ratio of personnel, the
lowest levels of pay and heaviest workload relative to other
countries.
According to the Harbin Daily, the death rate of China's police
officers is higher than that of other countries. Over 450 police
officers died while serving their duties in China, while during the
same period only two died in Japan. Due to the high rates of death,
some insurance companies are even refusing to provide personal
injury insurance to police officers.
According to official statistics, 148 police officers broke down
from constant overwork, accounting for 33.4 percent of the 458
police officers sacrificed during 2001.
Developed countries usually maintain a ratio of 35 police per ten
thousand citizens. However, in China that ratio is just 11 per ten
thousand citizens. In cities, developed countries average a
prescribed ratio of 1:300 police officers. In some of China's
cities, this rate is as low as 1:1250. "Chinese police serving on
the front line work an average of 11 to 15 hours per day. This
works out to 3016 hours per year, about twice of that of other
civil servants. Police are only allowed one day off duty every
three weeks. " By contrast, a U.S. police officer is guaranteed by
law up to 137 days each year to rest and recover from duty.
The China Avant-courier Sports Associate conducted a health survey
on 15.887 thousand police officers in Beijing and Northeast
Liaoning province in 1999. The result was far from satisfactory.
Eighty-six percent of them have some kind of disease. Those over 45
years of age were in especially bad health and demonstrated
deteriorating physical conditions. Most police officers have been
working under the intense stress of arduous duties placing high
demands on their bodies, which has often resulted in poor nutrition
and organ malfunction.
Moreover, grass roots police officers are being over extended by
successive special anti-crime campaigns. These police officers
usually have worse self-defense skills and inferior weapons
handling capabilities due to a lack of consistent training in the
relevant fields. All these factors combined boost the death
rate.
Though China has the most police universities in the world with
three universities directly under the Ministry of Public Security
and various provincial and municipal colleges, these institutions
tend to place too much emphasis on theory and not enough on
practical combat training. Some graduates do not even master
accurate shooting and advanced driving skills. They therefore lack
the relevant anti-riot skills necessary to deal with complicated
and chaotic situations.
Shooting is one of the most fundamental professional skills for a
police officer. Police officers in the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region are not allowed to be issued with guns until
they have fired 200 rounds of live ammunition. This would be very
difficult to achieve in economically disadvantaged mainland
provinces. A captain in Henan province's criminal police bureau has
still not had the chance to finish 50 rounds of live ammunition
even though he served with the force for over a decade. Some grass
roots police departments, under stringent budget constraints,
cannot even afford to pay for the live daily rounds necessary to
train a sniper.
Experts emphasize that while singing high praises for police
officers lost in the line of duty authorities are sacrificing the
spirit of the serving force. Local governments must improve the
level of compensation offered to police officers and lift their
overall working conditions. More investments should also be made in
supplying advanced equipment and providing combat trainings to
increase police officer's self-preservation and awareness.
(china.org.cn October 28, 2002)