Society

Police in China tweet to change stern-faced image

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-05 07:58

BEIJING - Police across China have taken to micro-blogging as a means of interacting with the public, as the force seeks to change its image and ease tensions that usually arise from complaints being handled improperly.

At least 500 police bureaus across the country have started micro blog accounts on popular Chinese web portals over the past year. Beijing police's account, Safe Beijing, had some 330,000 followers at the end of 2010, officials said.

"We use micro blogs to deal with emergencies, to hear public complaints and to alert the public on crimes," said Zhao Feng, an official who manages Safe Beijing.

Although tweeting has yet to help the police solve any cases, officials view posts and status updates as a means of mending strained relations between the police and the public.

The police in China have often been criticized for putting on a stern face to respond to public requests, many of which are trivial in nature. Tensions can mount even higher when they are called upon to forcibly resolve disputes.

Related readings:  Foul play suspected in death of village head  Micro blogs have a macro impact in 2010

"We should master the use of micro blogs to improve our interaction with the people, to hear their complaints and criticisms and to provide better services," Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu said at a national police workshop in late December.

Micro blogs have become increasingly popular in China, which has about 400 million Internet users - the largest number in the world.

As of October 2010, there were more than 65 million micro blog accounts active in China, with more than 125 million registered visitors, according to a recent study by Shanghai Jiaotong University.

But it will take time to tell whether the police's latest initiative proves to be popular with the people.

In the southern province of Guangdong, the provincial police bureau's micro blog is managed by a group of officers in their 20s, who tweet in the vernacular to reach the younger generation of Internet users.

Liu Bo, a Web manager of Safe Nanyue, which is another name for the Guangdong region, said the bureau was disappointed by online posts that said its micro blogs were a means by which the government intervenes and manipulates information.

"We actually want to offer help and to do so more effectively," he said. The Web manager explained he has been using micro blogs to communicate to Internet users in a way that will enable them to realize that police officers are ordinary people, who have family chores to tend to when they clock off.

"We need to do the laundry, we need to babysit. We are not superior, but as common as the majority of netizens," he said.

In the eastern Chinese city of Jinan, police use micro blogs to hold online conferences and solicit public opinion on a variety of issues, such as traffic rules, visa applications, household registration and fire prevention.

Scholars have applauded the increased interaction as a sign that ordinary people are having increased input in public affairs in China, a trend that can lead to greater transparency in government and more democratic proceedings.

"More government agencies should join the police in inviting the public to voice their complaints online or help supervise government work to head off corruption," said Wang Zhongwu, a professor of sociology at Shandong University in Jinan.

"Comments posted on the Internet might be uncomfortable to the ears of authority, but officials have to hear uncomfortable truths to improve their ability to govern," he said.

Xinhua