Police chosen to enforce behavior law

Most residents believe police should be the main enforcement body of the bad behavior law being drafted in Shenzhen, the results of the third public opinion poll on the law revealed on Monday.

The Shenzhen People's Congress has drafted the nation's first local law on bad behavior in public. This is the third time the public has been consulted about the potential new law, with the latest poll asking respondents which authority should enforce the law.

The potential law is targeted at bad behavior such as spitting, littering and cutting in line.

The poll received 101,664 completed questionnaires within 10 days.

Of those polled, 25.7 percent believe the police should take the job of enforcing the law, 23.3 percent believe the police and urban management bureau or a responsible department should work together, and 14.66 percent nominated the urban management bureau as the enforcement body.

A total of 70.7 percent said that in situations of violence or threatening behavior towards the authority attempting to enforce the law, the police should arrive within 15 minutes, and 69.8 percent of those polled believe in such situations the enforcement body can take the offender to the nearest police station.

Of the respondents 55.2 percent were male and 44.8 percent female; 52.3 percent were aged between 21-35, 38.5 percent between 36-50, and 85.5 percent have received high school education or above.

The poll asked respondents what sort of community service should be carried out by those convicted under the law. A majority of 69.3 percent voted for helping seniors, especially those without children, 66.6 percent voted for helping troubled children and 62.6 percent voted for helping the disabled.

Of those polled 82.4 percent believe public order should include traffic order, 78.3 percent think it should include keeping good order at railways, buses, metro stations and ports and 64.8 percent want to see better behavior at theaters and sports stadiums.

Of those polled 78.4 percent believe the public environment should include public places such as the street and parks, 73.6 percent wish to include markets, and 53.3 percent think restaurants should be covered under the law.

Shenzhen has been drafting the bad behavior law since late June. The first opinion poll focused on determining what sort of behavior is "bad" and the second on possible punishments for transgression of the law.