Crime may go up, official says

By Ma Chenguang (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-13 07:33

Controlling the rising number of criminal activities will prove to be a challenging task for security agencies across the country in 2009, a senior Party official has said.

Chen Jiping, deputy secretary-general of the office of the CPC Central Political and Legislative Affairs Committee, told the Outlook magazine that the country's economy faces "unprecedented challenges" in the wake of the financial crisis, and it may pose a serious threat to internal security.

Chen's office is in charge of coordinating security, courts, public prosecution and justice departments in China.

In the interview published yesterday, Chen said social conflicts and crime situations were bound to continue in 2009, but new problems, such as kidnappings for ransom and robberies may increase, as a lot of jobs will be lost during the downturn.

"It will be a challenging task to maintain and control law and order in the country this year," he said.

As the year marks the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, public safety and social harmony will be the top priority for the law enforcement staff, Chen said.

The government, Chen said, will work to establish an "omni-directional and dynamic early-warning mechanism" on social stability.

"We will increase our crackdowns on offences like gang-related activities, violence, drug peddling and economic frauds," he said.

Chen said that authorities were also planning to ask the general public to volunteer to ensure social order.

During the Beijing Olympic Games in August, the co-host city Tianjin organized a team of 210,000 "Volunteers for Safe Tianjin", who, together with the police, patrolled the streets.

Other measures to ensure social stability in the country this year include:

Using experiences from the Beijing Games and trying to mobilize more people to maintain order;

Improving the investigation and mediation mechanism to prevent minor cases from turning into serious ones; and

Strengthening social management to oversee the smooth flow of migrant population, and helping previous offenders rehabilitate.

Fang Fei, a judge in Zhabei district court of Shanghai, said the social situation in the country was "harsh".

He cited an example saying that between March and October last year about 21,000 people were caught in 15,000 gun-related cases in China.