Police answer call in record time

On Sunday, the first Chinese People's Police Day, Zhangzhou 110 was awarded the title of "role model of the times" by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Zhangzhou 110 now has 224 members with an average age of 30, and they are divided into different groups responsible for patrolling and providing technological support.

Xu Yi, 36, became a policeman and joined the team in 2018 after serving in the army for 12 years. He finds the team takes serving people as its core value. "In order to give people a sense of security, we tried every means to establish a quick reaction mechanism," says Xu.

He realized the need of speed at work not long after he joined. "We received a call telling us a family home in a building was on fire, and we rushed to the spot in two minutes. Usually we wait for the fire brigade's arrival, but the building was located in a small alley, meaning the fire engine would not be able to access it. Moreover, the house owner, the husband, was away, but he couldn't get in touch with his wife and didn't know if she was in the burning house.

"As a result, we felt we couldn't wait and broke into the house to see if there were any people. We found the fire had started in the kitchen, where a gas cylinder was stored, so we extinguished the fire in case it might explode. Later, when I recalled this incident, I still couldn't help thinking what would happen if we had arrived later and the cylinder exploded. It makes me realize the importance of speed," says Xu.

The jurisdiction area of Zhangzhou 110 has been divided into 11 police districts, in which the police patrol in turns. When incidents happen, those who are patrolling in that district will arrive at the spot in less than five minutes.

"Under some special circumstances, we are allowed to arrive in 10 minutes, others require less than five, or we need to write a report to explain. We have strict demands on the speed of arrival," says Xu.

Wang Haozheng who was in charge of a real estate company in Zhangzhou, has an impressive memory of the police's speed. He recalls once he dialed 110 and felt anxious so he lit a cigarette. When the police arrived, he had barely consumed half of the cigarette, which "made me realize their amazing speed", says Wang.

Now, Zhangzhou 110 receives reports of 107.8 incidents every day on average. Police arrive at the incident scene in five minutes 86.04 percent of the time, and 10 minutes for nearly 100 percent.