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)