Recently some 116 police officers in Jiangxi Province took an unusual examination after 10-days training. Those who fail to get 80 will not qualify for the position. These are the first group of officers to receive such training.

According to Jiang Zushan, a division director of the provincial Department of Public Security, the Department of Public Security is going to train over 1,200 junior police officers at county or city levels. Unlike previous training, all trainees are treated like soldiers and are required to do morning exercise and eat in lines.

There is also a strict exam waiting for them at the end of training. Though they are allowed to use books, the time is only 90-minute. Besides, most of the examination papers are concrete case studies and have no ready answers, so it is not easy for the trainees to get the necessary 80 points.

The qualification line is set at 80 instead of 60 because, as Zhu Wenyu, Party Secretary of Jiangxi Police School explains:

“It is decided by the nature of public security work. The police handle directly sensitive and key issues involving people’s lives. Even a minor mistake might lead to wanton slaughter. In this respect, it is already very relaxed to simply require them to handle 8 out of 10 cases correctly.”

All the material used this time are from 37 bad living examples occurring in Jiangxi Province in recent years. Some cases have already concluded while some are still ongoing. Most are confidential. Since all cases are from life, it can help them to rethink their work and find what to improve on, said Zhu.

The police officers feel big pressure as those who fail to reach 80 will lose their positions. They study very hard just like those high-school students preparing for the college entrance examination. In the past, when police officers gather to study, usually they are busy with social activities like banquets. Yet this time everything is different.

As a matter of fact, the training is not focused on studying regulations and law, instead it puts the change of ideas and attitudes as top priority. Hopefully, this kind of training will help the police at basic levels to improve their work effectively, added Zhu.

(China.org.cn by Zheng Guihong, September 26, 2003)