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Friendly face of law

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-14 07:12

Traffic administration authorities at the Ministry of Public Security issued a notice, calling on its local subsidiaries to avoid sharpening contradictions in handling minor offenses in the run-up to the Olympic Games.

That is a sensible reminder. Only that it should have come a lot earlier, been shared by a much larger audience and intended not just for the Games.

No doubt this has to do with the recent mass riot in Weng'an, Guizhou province and the deadly assault on a police station in Shanghai. One resulted from popular distrust of a police autopsy report; the other was the tragic outcome of a private individual's hysteric revenge for perceived misconduct by the police.

We are still waiting for convincing accounts of precisely what had led to the desperate reactions in the two cases, and, in particular, why the antagonism had gone so far. But it would be regrettable if investigations were conducted only to identify culprits and assign liabilities. Though they were the obvious victims in both cases, the police authorities, too, should ask themselves why they had been faced such reactions. .

The circular from the public security ministry makes sense because it corresponds to what most of us have realized following the recent tragedies - that nothing in the use of public powers is a small matter.

According to what we have learnt so far about the Weng'an story, for instance, it was not overnight that the local police authorities lost credibility. The cause of the death of a school girl provided only the fuse for a protracted accumulation of public distrust and discontent. Alleged involvement of the underworld complicated the matter.

This is a lesson for all law-enforcement authorities. There have been numerous examples of how otherwise fully legitimate law-enforcement activities ended up stirring up public dissatisfaction, if not hostilities, owing to inappropriate approaches. The widely disliked cheng guan squads, quasi-official law enforcement teams hired by local government offices to take care of public order on urban streets, earned notoriety, thanks to their consistent record of being rude.

Traffic police become an unwelcome presence on the road because of a widespread perception that they tend to abuse their authority to impose fines. Unfavorable images, once coupled with undesirable conduct on the part of those supposed to deliver fairness and justice, has destructive potential to cause contradictions.

The ministry's idea to regulate law enforcement is conducive to defusing tensions.

If all laws and regulations are executed in people-friendly manners, our society will be a lot more harmonious.

(China Daily 07/14/2008 page4)