Just a year after its trial launch, a retirement pension system
for police officers in east China's Jiangsu
Province has helped to halve corruption cases.
More than 140,000 police officers are currently covered by the
system, one-fifth of the province's total police force, said Chen
Xu, the Jiangsu Provincial Public Security Bureau's director of the
information. They expect gradually to expand the plan throughout
the provincial force.
The scheme calls for each officer to contribute 300 yuan (US$36)
per month; the public security bureau will add 150 yuan (US$18) and
the government puts in another 150 yuan.
The money is deposited to a special account and cannot be
accessed by the employee until retirement. Police officers who
begin to work at the age of 22 and are never subject to
disciplinary action will receive all the money in their account
upon retirement.
However, if the officer is disciplined for corruption or
dishonest acts, the money is reduced. Dismissal results in
forfeiture of all funds in the account.
From January to June this year, 104 complaints were filed
against police officers, a drop of 27.3 percent compared with the
same period of last year. The number of corruption cases decreased
56 percent from the same time last year.
(China Daily August 26, 2004)