A senior Chinese public security official Friday asked the heads of China's public security organs to meet petitioners in person and concretely address their complaints. 

"Heads of public security departments of county and prefecture-level governments, in particular, must personally listen to the complaints and personally supervise work to address the complaints," Vice Minister of Public Security Bai Jingfu said at a national television and telephone conference on handling complaints.

The ministry launched a national program of addressing complaints on May 18. In this campaign, police offices were ordered to receive petitioners and ensure all complaints are handled properly. The work will not be completed until the petitioners are satisfied with the results.

By June 9, public security organs across the country had received 71,000 petitioners, of whom 15,000 said they would stop making petitions. The petitions range from solving long-delayed cases, requesting the redress of previous wrongs, to demanding that the rude behavior of policemen be rectified.

In recent years, the number of people making petitions has increased noticeably. Ou Zhenping, director of an office for receiving petitions under the Ministry of Public Security, said the phenomenon resulted in part from China's reform.

"As the reform reaches deeper problems, interests of some people are affected," Ou said in a recent interview with netizens of Xinhuanet.com. "The other reason is that more people have become more conscious of their legal rights and taken action to safeguard their rights.

"So the phenomenon is not entirely a bad thing. It shows our efforts in promoting democracy and building a sound legal environment have yielded fruit," he said.

In addition to the above-mentioned reasons, the malpractice of some policemen also contributed to the situation.

A case in point is that 39-year-old She Xianglin, a former security guard in central China's Hubei Province, was recently found innocent and freed after spending 11 years in jail for allegedly murdering his wife.

After his release, She told reporters that police had tortured and forced him to confess during the interrogation.

At Friday's conference, Bai ordered various levels of public security organs to identify weak links in their work through the campaign and regulate behaviors in law enforcement in the future.

Public opinion generally applauds the campaign, noting it helps solve social problems in an early stage. It will also help high officials to learn the actual social situation and the performance of their subordinates.

(Xinhua News Agency June 11, 2005)