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Jun Mai

Chinese police have been urged to videotape all interactions with the public as part of a bigger push to standardise and update law ­enforcement.
The Ministry of Public Security also recommended better training for officers in evidence collection and equipment used in the line of duty, Xinhua reported on Wednesday.

The directive from the ministry comes after national outcries over deaths in custody and forced confessions, and as the Communist Party promotes its slogan of “rule by law”.
But lawyers doubted the new rules would be effective.
China to ‘tighten up’ on illegally obtained evidence, protect criminal suspects’ rights
The directive was approved four months ago by the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms, which called for standardisation of law enforcement.
To reduce the risk of forced confessions, it called for anybody involved in obtaining wrongful convictions to be held liable with no statute of limitations, Xinhua reported. Standards for excluding evidence obtained illegally should be further clarified, it said.
It’s not good regulations that China lacks, but the proper implementation
Mo Shaoping, lawyer
To make the system more transparent, it also said information on individual cases should be made available on police websites, except for cases related to state security.
The directive follows the release earlier this month of a separate document from the ministry, the supreme court and the top prosecutor setting out how police officers could use posts from ­personal blogs and social media, and obtain email records and ­other electronic information as evidence in criminal cases.

In another attempt to update procedures, the ministry announced in July that the public could record the actions of police officers on duty as long as officers were not stopped from doing their jobs. It also rolled out new protocols for officers handling criminal, public order and traffic incidents.
Mainland Chinese police have long been accused of forcing confessions from and using violence against suspects.
The death in custody in May of Beijing environmental scientist Lei Yang just 50 minutes after he was ­approached by plainclothes ­officers for an identification check in his neighbourhood caused national outrage. Police said Lei died of a heart attack, but an autopsy report this month said he suffocated on gastric fluid.
Chinese death in custody raises family and public fears of police brutality
Lawyers said the big problem was how the rules were enforced. “I’m extremely pessimistic about the implementation based on my experience, but it should still be encouraged as it conforms more to the ‘rule by law’ spirit,” veteran lawyer Mo Shaoping said.
“It’s not good regulations that China lacks, but the proper implementation of these regulations.”
Lawyer Wang Zhenyu said police could easily work around the protocol allowing the public to record officers.
“It could be easily abused by the police,” Wang said. “They can define any action as interfering with police action.”


‘Catch it all on video’: China’s police urged to record law enforcement process

The Chinese national flag flies behind security cameras at Tiananmen Square. A new directive from the Ministry of Public Security proposes front-line police receive strengthened training on evidence gathering and use of equipment. Photo: AFP

A Chinese police officer monitors the feed of close circuit cameras showing street scenes from in Hefei, in eastern China's Anhui province on July 12, 2009, as part of the heightened security precautions to guard against unrest. China sees tens of thousands of public order disturbances, including protests and even large-scale riots each year, often sparked by allegations of government corruption and other official abuses. CHINA OUT AFP PHOTO / AFP PHOTO / AFP

A police officer uses a pocket camera to record the foreign media covering the family members of Chinese passengers from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, at the Yonghegong Lama temple in Beijing on March 8, 2015. A year on, there remains no evidence to indicate what caused Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 to vanish or where it ended up, despite the most expensive search operation in history. AFP PHOTO / GOH CHAI HIN / AFP PHOTO / GOH CHAI HIN

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Directive part of drive to update and standardise law enforcement but lawyers say rules will be easy to get around if not properly implemented


‘Catch it all on video’: China’s police urged to record law enforcement process

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Directive part of drive to update and standardise law enforcement but lawyers say rules will be easy to get around if not properly implemented

Directive part of drive to update and standardise law enforcement but lawyers say rules will be easy to get around if not properly implemented