Draft regulation to maintain authority of on-duty police
The release of a draft regulation to maintain the authority of on-duty police officers will improve the working environment for grass-roots officers, Chinese experts asserted on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Public Security has started soliciting opinions on the draft Regulations on Maintenance of the Authority of Public Security Organs in Law Enforcement, the Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday.
The draft specifies that the authority of the police should be guaranteed in violent attacks like being hit, rolled, dragged, or smashed by vehicles or being obstructed or crushed by people. Being detained, bitten or pulled should also be protected, the draft stipulates.
The draft also requires police should not be punished for their law enforcement behavior without due legal procedures.
The draft came four days after Gu Quan, an officer in Nanjing, East China’s Jiangsu Province, had his throat cut in a fight with a suspect on September 3.
Police powers became a controversial topic in China after the death of Lei Yang en route to a police station in May 2016.
Lei, suspected of involvement in prostitution, was arrested by two plainclothes officers and his suspicious death stirred online debate.
Police are currently required to use law enforcement recording equipment on duty, a policy that started in July 2014.
“The police’s authority is already granted by law and they are in charge of many affairs,” Professor Wang Zhenyu from the China University of Political Science and Law told Global Times Wednesday. “The police only need to act according to existing laws and regulations.”
Chinese people sometimes lack legal consciousness, “but actually attacks on police are not rare,” Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee, told the Global Times. “The regulation can be a legal education.”
Admittedly there were “black sheep in our police force,” Su said, “and the new regulation will protect lawful officers from the negative stereotype caused by bad cops.”