Society

Overwork listed leading cause of police on-duty deaths

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-04-04 23:00

BEIJING - About 47 percent of on-duty deaths of police officers in China over the past five years were caused by overwork, which became the leading cause of police fatalities, said a statement from the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on Monday.

Beginning in 2006, 1,029 police officers died due to sudden death caused by over-working, with the average age of the victims being 45 years old, the statement said.

According to the statement, officers commonly died due to heart, brain or blood vessel diseases. These ailments  caused 70 percent of the sudden deaths of police officers.

It also indicated that police at the grassroots level, such as community police and traffic police, are more likely to die suddenly.

The statement said that from 2006 to the end of 2010, 2,182 police officers died on duty, pushing the total police on-duty deaths after the founding of New China in 1949 to 11,440.

Moreover, over 15,734 police were injured on the job in the past five years, with most sustaining injuries due to being attacked by or fighting with criminal suspects, the statement said.

Also on Monday, the MPS published a circular on measures to strengthen administration and management of passenger coaches, vans and their drivers. The move is meant to prevent major traffic accidents.

The measures included setting up a database that contains information on the vehicles and drivers, intensifying safety checks for vehicles, and setting more strict standards for driver's license exams.