Terrorism down, murder up in 2009

Overall number of serious crimes in Beijing is dropping, police statistics say

Despite a spate of recent high-profile violent crime in the city, the most serious types of lawlessness actually fell in Beijing last year to six incidents from 31 such cases in 2007.

The information was included in a wrap-up of 2009 issued by the capital's public security bureau.

But Liu Ruibin, head of the bureau's operations department, told METRO that second-level crimes - which include murders and terrorist threats - were 13 percent higher than in 2007.

Police did not reveal the number of serious crimes in 2008 so the latest statistics could not be compared with last year's numbers but to 2007 instead.

Liu said police received around 16,000 alarm calls each day last year. About 4,000 of those calls each day required an officer to be sent to the scene.

Crimes in Beijing are classified into four levels: first-level crimes include terrorist attacks, explosions, hostage-taking, hijacking, shootings and the robbery of financial institutions; the second-level includes major threats to social order, people's lives and property; the third-level covers common cases and disputes. The provision of information to the public belongs on the fourth level.

"The reason for the decline in first-level alert cases is that we have strengthened security, to contain crime at the source and prevent minor cases from escalating," Liu said.

While second-level cases increased overall, Liu said major murder cases had actually been decreasing.

The wrap-up of the annual statistics followed a difficult month for the police in which 13 people in three families were killed in three murder cases in Daxing district.

Beijing public security bureau officially opened a new integrated operations department on Jan 10 that is aimed at better coordinating the response to reports of crime.

"The operations department can integrate various kinds of police forces and their responsibilities, so they can be deployed efficiently and effectively," Liu said.

"In addition to answering alarm calls, the operations department closely monitors intelligence and the deployment of police forces, so that we can respond with the fastest speed and the highest efficiency."

There are more than 15,000 police officers on duty in the city each day. That number does not include traffic police.

If the number of criminal cases reaches 80 in any single day in downtown Beijing, for every 10 percent of increase, the bureau will automatically deploy 5 percent more officers, Liu said.

Thanks to the bureau's fast response last month, an incident in which a Henan man took hostage a pregnant woman and robbed 70,000 yuan from an Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Haidian district was over with the man's capture just eight minutes later. The fast response involved coordinating more than 200 officers who helped handle the incident.

Liu said, after effectively dealing with the massive security tasks presented by the Beijing Olympics and the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Beijing's public security bureau will focus more in future on an overall strategic plan to continuously improve the ability of security organizations to control social security.

This year, the operations department will carry out more training for the entire police force. The training will cover all areas, including equipment, language, response time and the procedures for handling cases. The initiative is being undertaken in a bid to standardize law enforcement, Liu said.

During Spring Festival, police will step up patrols and deploy plainclothes officers in potential hotspots - including bus stations, sightseeing destinations and business centers - in an effort to crack down on street crime.

They will especially target street robbery, pick-pocketing and theft from autos.

Since Dec 23, Beijing police have arrested 3,500 suspects, investigated 4,800 criminal cases and broken up 280 gangs, Beijing police said yesterday.

The campaign will last until March.

(China Daily 01/18/2010 page25)