Voices

Chengguan and police should be separate bodies

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-30 07:49

It is reported that an official from the bureau of public security in the capital city will also take on the post of chengguan chief. It will be the first time that a police officer has been employed as the bureau director of the chengguan at the same time as he is still a serving policeman.

It does not mean that chengguan - urban management and security officers - will be incorporated into the police department, but it will make the public worry that chengguan officers may be about to get more of the powers that have in the past been bestowed upon police officers.

In fact, in the cities of Wuhan, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, there have been experiments to make chengguan shoulder some of the duties of policemen. But the feedback has always been negative.

The professional image of chengguan is not good among the public and the voice calling for reform has been loud.

So, we hope the decision-makers will solicit public opinion and work out a scientific and reasonable law-enforcement system for chengguan officers.

It is true that the relationship between city managers and those being managed tends to be strained. Conflicts and even violence are not rare between chengguan and residents. That is why some cities chose to let chengguan play the role of policemen. But decision-makers should realize that a stable, clean and harmonious city environment can be achieved not by violent law-enforcement, but by people's voluntary cooperation and abiding of the rules and regulations.

We have to admit that there is violence, not only from citizens and vendors, but also from chengguan officers performing their management duties. If the chengguan management system is changed toward the policing system, we can imagine that violent law-enforcement might be more popular among chengguan officers, resulting in more harm to society.

The police department should be an independent third party between city residents and chengguan and not the protector of chengguan officers only.

Now, when a police officer acts concurrently as the chief of chengguan officers, the public cannot help but ask when chengguan and local residents are in violent conflicts, will residents still be able to dial 110 for police help? Can the "left hand" of the police be able to restrict its "right hand"?

To the above question, decision-makers should give careful consideration and make proper system readjustments.

The function of the police is to give equal protection to all citizens and organizations. If chengguan officers are violently attacked by vendors, the police should step in and punish the offenders in line with the law. Similarly, if a chengguan officer resorts to violence while performing his duty, the police should punish him in line with the law.

If chengguan officers function as policemen, there will be an assumption that the citizens and vendors are always at fault in an dispute with chengguan officers. So, decision-makers must weigh carefully and give full consideration to the feelings of the public in the reform of the chengguan system.

The ideal form of management is to provide service, not to resort to violence, especially in the management concerning city order.

Excerpts from a comment in Beijing News