Focus
Top officer walks small beat, catches scores of criminals
By Wang Chao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-01 11:20
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 Zhang Huiling (right) and his colleagues watch for potential crimes from inside a restaurant on Zhang's 2.2 sq km turf. Zhang patrols the area, in Haidian District, as a plainclothes officer and last year received his fifth award for excellent performance. [Provided To china daily] |
Shuangyushu police station is located in Haidian District and it has a jurisdiction of only 2.2 sq km. However, on his not-so-big turf, Zhang has many troublemakers.
Shuangyushu area is home to big supermarkets such as Walmart and shopping malls such as Shuang'an department store and the Beijing Modern Plaza. In addition, there are about 50 office buildings, five bank branches and more than 3,000 restaurants. Every day more than 400,000 migrant workers pass through this area to shop or to transfer to and from the subway stations.
When Zhang began to work there, there were 70 to 80 thefts reported every year, but the number dropped to 18 reported cases in 2009. Zhang says the number is so low, despite the high number of criminals caught because most criminals work in large gangs.
Zhang is a 48-year-old man with calm eyes and a plain haircut. When he is not wearing a uniform, he looks like an ordinary, medium-build man.
"I'm a plainclothes policeman, so it's hard to identify me on the street." Zhang said with a smile. "I seem to be walking around the shopping malls and parking lots aimlessly, but actually I'm keeping a close eye on the people who look suspicious."
"You can meet every kind of person here," Zhang said. "Many ticket touts were lurking here, for example, one month ago when the movie Avatar was on."
But last year criminals were most easily found at the farmer's market in the morning, where they often tried to cut gold necklaces off from women's necks. When patrolling the market, Zhang has to get up as early as 5 am.
"Normally, I will study the recent 'criminal forecast' at night, which is based on calls from the public, and decide which kind of criminals I should pay attention to the next day, either thieves or scammers," Zhang said, describing his typical workday.
"Then I go to the police station according to the forecast," Zhang said, "Last summer I had to go to the station at 6 am, for example, because most thieves were working the morning farmers' market."
Zhang likes winter because generally he can rest a little more.
"There are not as many people on the street walking and shopping as there are in warmer seasons," he said.
But Zhang is still out patrolling during morning and evening rush hours since many commuters carry their laptops.
"I'm pretty free now compared with three months ago." Zhang told METRO. "You know, thieves also need to go home for the spring festival."
Zhang said he has encountered all kinds of criminals in his 17 years' experiences as a policeman, including car thieves using special devices to interfere with drivers locking their cars using remote keys and then stealing belongings from inside the vehicles, swindlers using fake money and scammers who pretend to be knocked down by cars to get drivers to pay compensation.
When asked how he avoids being recognized while patrolling such a small area, Zhang laughed and said he wears a mask every day.
"I have lung diseases anyway and have to wear a mask for health reasons sometimes," he said.
Because of irregular meals and occasional fights, Zhang suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure. He is not supposed to eat candy, but said he must after he skips several meals while on the job.
But Zhang says the rewards of his job are worth the cost and that some people on his turf regard him as a guardian.
"I feel so relieved whenever I saw Zhang," Cao Yong, deputy manager of the Huaxing movie theater told audiences during a ceremony when Zhang was honored as one of the top ten policemen in Haidian district.
