Nearly 1.6 million Chinese policemen will work with unified certificates for the first time since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, aiming to facilitate easy identification and combat faking.

A new police ID card is displayed at a press conference hosted by the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing on Tuesday, May 30, 2006. [CIIC]

Nearly 1.6 million Chinese policemen will work with unified certificates for the first time since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, aiming to facilitate easy identification and combat faking.

Fan Jingyu, a senior official in charge of personnel training with the Ministry of Public Security (MOPS) said at a press conference here Tuesday that from January 1 next year, former certificates issued by local public security administrations will be banned from using.

"All policemen in service should use the unified certificate granted by the MOPS," he said.

Experts said that the introduction of the new certificate will help ordinary people identify who is the real policeman, and ease the tension between the public and the cops in some places.

The certificate is a billfold carrying a special card. On the face of the billfold bares the words "China Police" in Chinese and on its back is "CHINA POLICE" in English, according to Fan.

With a sort of special technology, the card is highly anti-counterfeiting, and it contains full information about the holder, including a digital color photo, name, gender, date of birth, post, number-badge, rank, blood type and term of validity.

"We specify the blood type of relevant holders in the certificate to ensure timely medical treatment in case of emergency," Cao explained.

The first group of cops to use the card will be from the municipalities and provinces of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangdong and Shaanxi, on Wednesday this week, Fan said.

He noted that before the new certificate was introduced, cops in different Chinese provinces and regions used different certificates.

"The situation makes it difficult for the police to carry out cross-region investigations, and it is inconvenient for common people to identify and coordinate with the cops, " he said.

In addition, the unified certificate will help promote international cooperation, he said, adding that illegal manufacturing, selling, holding or using the certificate will be severely punished in accordance with relevant laws.

Cao also noted that armed police forces will not be granted the new certificate because they are regarded as military personnel on active service. They hold special certificates of their own.

The introduction of unified certificate is part of the MOPS' efforts to achieve a more standardized management of the police force.

Earlier this year, China has launched a program to upgrade police stations nationwide to make them have the same outlook, so the public can distinguish them from other buildings.