Criminal cases continue to drop in China

Police in China annually solved over 9.4 million public security cases and 5.4 million criminal cases over the past four years, and both the number of filed criminal cases and homicide cases has dropped year by year, making China one of the safest countries in the world according to a work report on law enforcement from public security organs.

From 2016 to 2019, the number of registered criminal cases declined 24.3 percent, and the number of eight major types of criminal cases including homicide, injury, and rape had a 34.9 percent fall, according to the report, which was submitted for review on Monday during a session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, China's top legislature.

The number of murder cases dropped year by year, while the detection rate of such cases has increased and reached 99.8 percent in 2019. In addition, cases of invading other's property such as theft and robbery also dropped 48.5 percent from 2016 to 2019.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak this year, over 100,000 police were deployed to patrol more than 2,800 designated hospitals to ensure orderly medical treatment and quarantine. Police have also strengthened control of entry and exit and improved the inspection mechanism for inbound personnel to guard against risks of importation of the pandemic.

Although the general public security situation in China is stable, public security organs still face many challenges, because some traditional crimes are spreading online and various destabilizing factors are intertwined, making the situation and task of public security law enforcement arduous and complex.

The challenges remaining for law enforcement include a need for improvement in the abilities of public security organs, some leading officials and police officers are accustomed to handling cases based on their experience but not the law and insufficient police personnel.

The report also suggested accelerating the revision of the People's Police Law to better define police officers' duties and powers and improve the system of police management, and give more guidance on local legislation for auxiliary police personnel in different places.

Given that police officers on the front line have suffered from frequent incidents of obstructing justice, violence against the law, and rumors and defamation being spread in recent years, the report also suggested adding the crime of assaulting the police to the Criminal Law to penalize those who attack the police.