Guangdong police boast of turning tide of crime

Guangdong, which pioneered China's economic reform a decade ago, has found the key to maintaining a safer society, officials boasted yesterday.

Under criticism for many years for its high crime rate, the province's police now claim to have turned the tide and say they have 'found a new way to manage public security in China's market economy environment', Xinhua (the New China News Agency) reported.

Xinhua said the methods used by Guangdong police were now being studied by other provinces.

In spite of its economic success, the freewheeling province has been under pressure from Beijing over its poor crime record. According to Xinhua, Guangdong once accounted for one-fifth of all crime in China.

But Xinhua says police have revamped their command system, set up new hit squads and employed modern technology to deal with law-breakers.

Success stories quoted include the cracking of the Panyu bank robbery last December and the 600-kilogram heroin trafficking case last April, as well as the 1995 Macau jetfoil robbery.