Not all urban patrol officers thugs

Some urban patrol officers try to help vagrant along the street in Hangzhou city. [Photo/IC]

A video showing a 3-year-old boy holding a metal pipe and threatening some urban patrol officers who were "bullying" his grandmother, a street vendor, recently went viral on the internet. Rednet.cn commented on Friday:

The disputes between urban patrol officers and street vendors are no secret in many Chinese cities, but the recent one involving a 3-year-old "fighter" is a bit different. Some have attributed his anger toward the officers as the result of their "aggressive" law enforcement. However, should the patrol officers not enforce the law just because the youngster is trying to defend his grandmother's rule-breaking?

In a country with the rule of law, any violation of the law should be punished regardless of who commits it. It would undermine the rule of law if some wrongdoers were able to hide behind children to evade their due punishments.

People should not make snap judgments against the urban patrol officers, who are after all assigned to keep the city streets in order.

Of course, some may pursue their duties in an inappropriate or excessive manner, but their jobs are not easy. It is necessary for the public to avoid stereotyping all urban patrol officers as thugs and look squarely at their enforcement of the law and whether it is done in a legal and restrained manner.

To clear the various misunderstandings about them, the patrol officers should always strive to do their duty in a civilized way, instead of simply trying to "get things done". On their part, the street vendors need to understand what they have done wrong and cooperate with the patrol officers.

For that to happen, urban management authorities have to improve the regulations on urban management, and provide vendors space and facilities so they can conduct their activities legally. It does a disservice to such efforts if some internet users over-interpret skirmishes between street vendors and urban patrol officers.