A special police cavalry task force has been established in
Guangzhou's Baiyun District to tackle street crime in the southern
metropolis in the following months.
The police cavalry task force, consisting of more than 100 armed
police, has been equipped with advanced police motorcycles and
cars.
Defensively, they will have bullet-proof vests, steel helmets
and explosion-proof clothes. They will also be given batons,
pistols, and machine guns and other advanced weapons.
Commissioned last week, the force will patrol the city's
commercial streets, shopping centres, large housing estates and
other busy areas where the crime rate is usually high in this
provincial capital city, according to a police officer from the
Baiyun District Branch of Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Public
Security yesterday.
"Priority will be given to fighting criminal gangs and organized
robbery in local streets," said the officer, Yao Junnan.
It is the first time Guangzhou police has deployed a special
cavalry to patrol in the city's major streets.
In a special action late last week, the cavalry force seized
five stolen motorcycles and a knife after inspecting 95 motorcycles
and two sedans.
The action took place in the Tangjing Area of Guangzhou's Baiyun
District between 7:30?PM and 9:30?PM and utilized 40
police motorcycles and five cars.
The police cavalry task force will work with the city's other
frontline police to contribute to ensuring social order in the
modern metropolis, said Yao.
And Guangzhou police have decided to further strengthen the
special police cavalry task force by introducing more advanced
police weapons in the following years as it tries to build a force
capable of playing an important role in fighting crime in this
prosperous but crime-ridden city.
Guangzhou has about 60,000 of Guangdong Province 's approximately 150,000
police, the largest police force on the Chinese mainland.
Lan Hongying, a local white collar worker, said the
establishment of the special cavalry police would surely help deter
criminals in the city.
Lan said her bag had been robbed three times in Guangzhou's
streets since the beginning of the year.
"Street robbery is still a big public security problem in
Guangzhou," said Lan.
(China Daily October 24, 2006)