Beijing is to recruit 6,500 more police and
increase medical checkups from once every two years to once a year,
in order to improve their physical and mental health, according to
the Beijing News on Sunday.
"It should be a young and strong team, but medical
checkups in recent years show that police officers have a higher
morbidity rate than other groups," the paper quoted local
authorities as describing serving officers.
According to the report, the municipal police
department applied to add more personnel to save staff from
overworking, and the move has been approved by local
authorities.
The capital now has 63,489 police serving in local
public security departments, procuratorates and the people's
courts, with 64 percent of them under 40 years old.
Rates of high blood pressure, hyperlipemia and
hyperglycemia are higher in police than the general population, and
they are more likely to have unhealthy lifestyles and working
patterns and to experience psychological problems.
In recent years, personnel shortages have been
identified as contributing to a worsening of their health.
The Ministry of Public Security is also launching a
national mental health survey involving 1.7 million police officers
this year.
(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2005)