The public transportation department of the Beijing Public Security Bureau has announced that 5,500 thieves were caught last year in the city with the help of a new on-line theft analysis system, according to Tuesday's China Police Daily.
The newspaper quoted sources with the department say that every night police log information about thefts into their computer. The information comes from the daily records of "110" police calls and theft case records from the bureau's different branches.
Based on this information, the computer can quickly calculate where and when stealing most frequently occurs, summarize any similarities between theft cases, and then send the analysis of the results to all bureau branches via a local area network.
This means every policeman can find out any patterns or trends to stealing throughout the city at any time via the net.
"Browsing the theft information on the computer has become one of my essential daily duties. The information does help me increase the efficiency of my work," a policeman was quoted as saying.
(People's Daily January 25, 2002)
