Law enforcement games

As alleged victims swarm to "cheng guan" headquarters to request the return of confiscated vehicles or fines, it is increasingly evident that the use of "baits" in Shanghai's crusade against illicit taxi services has been systematic, if not universal.

As more facts emerge, we are seeing disturbing signs. The alliance and mutual dependence between the local cheng guan officers and those human baits are far more complicated than we have imagined.

What the alleged former head of a baits group told the Chongqing Evening News, if true, is appalling: while colluding with cheng guan officers to entrap drivers, some baits collected protection fees from illicit taxi drivers. And, the whole thing was done in the name of regulating market order.