Lack of supervision behind police misdeeds

Criminal justice: Felons convicted of serious corruption would be prohibited from seeking shorter sentences, under a third reading of the draft amendment to the Criminal Law. The amendment aims to "safeguard judicial fairness".[Photo/China Daily]

A FORMER SENIOR OFFICER of the local police bureau in Luyi county, Central China's Henan province, is to be held criminally accountable along with two of his colleagues on charges of abusing their power and accepting bribes. Some 29 others also face disciplinary penalties. Legal Daily commented on Saturday:

The senior police officer reportedly fabricated the age of his daughter's registered profile and forged six identities for her, in a bid to make her an "eligible" recipient for a police salary. The falsified record said his daughter went to police school at the age of 7 and started her career at 10.

Worse still, to destroy all evidence of his crime in the face of several discipline inspections, the "vigilant" father and his accomplices attempted to hide and get rid of some personnel profiles, disabled all the surveillance cameras in the office, and smashed computers that contained compromising data. They even assigned underlings to keep a close eye on the inspections and asked them to report any "suspicious" moves.

These tense and dramatic moves were in addition to some Luyi police officers having forged an alliance with public power for wrongdoing. Despite the tightened supervision over civil servants in recent years, some still believe their misdeeds are worth all the risks.

It is also worth noting that the situation in Luyi was first disclosed by the provincial police authorities. This should serve as solid evidence of the effect of more efficient supervision from superiors, as most of such scandals are first reported by anonymous netizens. Supervision can only prove its worth when more seek to report and unveil corruption in their workplaces, regardless of possible intimidation from the wrongdoers.