High crime areas make a list of black spots

By Zhang Yan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-16 08:24

Police have deployed more plainclothes officers and SWAT teams to patrol zones

Beijing has revealed a list of 150 areas blighted by high crime and other social problems.

Among the zones is the area around the north gate of the Forbidden City, and Tangjialing, where many unemployed college graduates - the so-called "ant tribe" - live. The surrounding area of New World shopping center is also among the 150 places on the list and under the close scrutiny of security agencies.

Wang Wenjie, a press officer with the City Security Public Bureau, told METRO on Thursday that the Capital Social Order Comprehensive Management Committee published the list on Wednesday.

He said the 150 areas from 18 districts and counties with poor social security will be closely supervised.

The list includes 50 suburban and village areas, 50 downtown areas and 50 areas with high crime rates.

Wang said the list will help security agencies head off significant trouble and curtail organized criminal gangs, serious incidents such as murders, major accidents and mass incidents.

In 50 key downtown areas, the large number of tourists and local crowds give opportunities to criminals to search for the targets, he said.

"We have deployed more plainclothes officers and SWAT officers to patrol in those downtown areas," he said.

Beijing has already boosted security on subway lines since the recent explosions on the Moscow metro. The capital now has armed police soldiers and officers in stations. SWAT officers have also been deployed at major venues along Chang'an Avenue, including the National Center for the Performing Arts.

Wang said areas such as Tangjialing, where 50,000 people live in crowded conditions, will be monitored to prevent such things as fires and limit crime.

He explained that the mobile population in the 50 suburban and village areas listed - including the Huangcun area of Daxing district - was "very concentrated, with dirty sanitation, and public order is in chaos".

"A lot of migrant workers rent houses in Huangcun and they live in poverty, so some commit crimes for economic reasons," he said.

Police have told landlords in those areas to register guests, and officers sometimes check up on tenants to verify their IDs.

Areas listed include Beixinqiao of Dongcheng district, Shibalidian, Balizhuang and Sanjianpang areas of Chaoyang district, and Xisanqi area of Haidian district.

Beijing News said many areas were listed because of their high crime rates.

Wang said many high-crime areas were remote from the downtown and near rail lines, highways and wholesales markets, meaning they had a lot of people passing through them and offered criminals lots of potential targets.

"On one hand, the crimes are not easily detected by the police, and on the other hand, the criminals are usually easily able to avoid the police after committing the crime," he said.