A senior Chinese public security official Friday asked the heads
of China's public security organs to meet petitioners in person and
concretely address their complaints.?
"Heads of public security departments of county and
prefecture-level governments, in particular, must personally listen
to the complaints and personally supervise work to address the
complaints," Vice Minister of Public Security Bai Jingfu said at a
national television and telephone conference on handling
complaints.
The ministry launched a national program of addressing
complaints on May 18. In this campaign, police offices were ordered
to receive petitioners and ensure all complaints are handled
properly. The work will not be completed until the petitioners are
satisfied with the results.
By June 9, public security organs across the country had
received 71,000 petitioners, of whom 15,000 said they would stop
making petitions. The petitions range from solving long-delayed
cases, requesting the redress of previous wrongs, to demanding that
the rude behavior of policemen be rectified.
In recent years, the number of people making petitions has
increased noticeably. Ou Zhenping, director of an office for
receiving petitions under the Ministry of Public Security, said the
phenomenon resulted in part from China's reform.
"As the reform reaches deeper problems, interests of some people
are affected," Ou said in a recent interview with netizens of
Xinhuanet.com. "The other reason is that more people have become
more conscious of their legal rights and taken action to safeguard
their rights.
"So the phenomenon is not entirely a bad thing. It shows our
efforts in promoting democracy and building a sound legal
environment have yielded fruit," he said.
In addition to the above-mentioned reasons, the malpractice of
some policemen also contributed to the situation.
A case in point is that 39-year-old She Xianglin, a former
security guard in central China's Hubei
Province, was recently found innocent and freed after spending
11 years in jail for allegedly murdering his wife.
After his release, She told reporters that police had tortured
and forced him to confess during the interrogation.
At Friday's conference, Bai ordered various levels of public
security organs to identify weak links in their work through the
campaign and regulate behaviors in law enforcement in the
future.
Public opinion generally applauds the campaign, noting it helps
solve social problems in an early stage. It will also help high
officials to learn the actual social situation and the performance
of their subordinates.
(Xinhua News Agency June 11, 2005)