A short video was posted online showing security personnel in Zaozhuang, Shandong province in East China, badly treating a couple who they caught having sex in a car. The local police department later announced that the four officers responsible were temporary staff. The Beijing Times says this is a tired excuse that people have heard too many times before:

Often when faced with such a public relations crisis, local authorities will try to blame the incident on "temporary staff" or "substitute officers". No wonder the public is asking "why couldn't the excuse be more creative?" or saying "those that receive the least salary, enjoy the fewest rights and shoulder the most responsibilities, are always the scapegoat".

This strategy of blaming temporary staff has speeded up the government's loss of credibility.

Even though substitute officers are temporary staff, they are still representatives of the police, and their rude or wrong enforcement of the law is still a stain on the police as a whole.

In law, the substitute police officers are ordinary people who function as assistants to the police. If they enforce the law, they must be supervised by police officers.

Who were the supervising police officers? And where were they when the incident happened?

The couple reportedly parked the car in an inconspicuous place, which means they did not intend to disturb the public. Does having sex in a car violate any law? If not, they should be left alone.