The Ministry of Public Security on Tuesday announced that an increasing number of policemen will be dispatched from offices to frontline or grassroots posts to enhance the combat readiness of grassroots police organs.

Wu Heping, spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security, said at a press conference that currently 50 percent of the country's policemen worked at the grassroots level, such as local police stations, detention houses and traffic administrative bureaus, while another 50 percent of policemen worked in leadership offices.

"However, most cases or public affairs need to be dealt with by grassroots policemen. The current police distribution structure is unreasonable", said Wu.

He disclosed that in the coming several years, the Ministry of Public Security would arrange 85 percent of the country's policemen to work in grassroots police organs in order to better serve citizens and cope with criminal cases more efficiently.

China currently has more than 5,200 police sub-stations, more than 3,000 detention houses and 382 automobile administrative bureaus.

(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2006)