The police ranking system, introduced in China 10 years ago, has played an important role in improving the strength of the force, a senior official with the Ministry of Public Security said yesterday.
"Our police have become more modern, robust and worth their salt in the last 10 years," Sun Mingshan, political department chief under the ministry, said at a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the system.
The pyramidal rank of Chinese police falls into five categories with the general police commissioner at the top and deputy general police commissioner, police commissioner, police supervisor, police superintendent and police constable following in turn.
Ministry officials urged that public security authorities, national security staff and judicial police should abide by the system.
At yesterday's ministry celebration, 226 police officers nationwide were ranked police commissioner class III after 40 days of intensive training at the Chinese People's Public Security University.
"As this group of newly ranked police officers show, officers nationwide should be trained," Sun said.
Sun said China has established a stringent process for choosing officers to promote.
Since 1992, any candidates applying for positions on the police force must pass a national exam.
In the last decade, 200,000 police officers reached the ranks of police supervisor and police commissioner after training, according to the ministry.
(China Daily June 29, 2002)
