Bank robbery crackdown urged
Guangdong police and bank officials called a special conference yesterday to discuss how to tackle the sharp rise of bank robberies in the province.
Deputy Public Security Director Wu Zeyao urged officers to be vigilant and called on banks to join the police in the fight against crime.
Figures supplied by the police showed that in the first four months of this year, bank robberies in Guangdong province jumped 200 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year.
Mr Wu pointed out the urgent need to improve the security systems at the banks in the face of the advanced technology used by computer hackers.
Bank security officers should be properly trained and managed, and a 'revolutionary' inspection of the banks' security systems was needed, Mr Wu told the conference, Nanfang Daily reported.
Meng Jianbo, deputy governor of Guangdong People's Bank, asked bank officials to fully co-operate with the police in the fight against bank robbers.
To drive home the message of security, police in Shekou recently organised a mock raid to improve the emergency handling skills of the officers.
Separately, Shenzhen police also held exercises targeted at plane hijackers and highway criminals.
The exercises were designed to train officers to tackle robbers who were active along the main highways.
