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)