A new system monitoring the effectiveness of Beijing's police stations came into force yesterday, including the "naming and shaming" of the 50 that perform most poorly.

The capital's Municipal Bureau of Public Security blacklisted the worst stations according to localized crime rates, and the 50 worst will have to display signs identifying themselves that will only be removed once they have improved their statistics.

If they do not make progress by the end of June they could be publicly reprimanded. 

The districts of Chaoyang and Haidian, the city's east central and northwest respectively, have the largest number of blacklisted stations of the 18 districts and counties in the municipality: seven each.

The crime rate in areas covered by Dongsheng and Qinghe stations, in Haidian, was the highest of all 400 in Beijing. Dongsheng also reported the highest burglary rate.

Pingfang station in Chaoyang witnessed the highest number of robbery cases, and Shibalidian station, in the same district, had the most car thefts.

According to the bureau, burglaries and motor vehicle thefts increased 20 percent in the first quarter of this year.

Beijing News sources said that inefficient use of police officers was one of the main reasons for the high rates.

A bureau investigation into 286 burglaries in March showed that 55 percent happened in areas where there were no community police officers.

This was backed by Zhang Liang, a Beijing resident living in Huilongguan, one of the biggest residential areas, whose station was one of those blacklisted.

"I seldom see police officers in my neighborhood," he said yesterday.

(China Daily April 5, 2005)