Officers across China go online to improve their public image
Source: Xinhua |
January 5, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
POLICE across China have taken to microblogging to interact with the public as forces seek to change their stern-faced image and ease tensions caused by improper handling of complaints.
At least 500 police bureaus across the country have opened microblog accounts on popular Chinese web portals in the past year. Beijing police's account "Safe Beijing," for example, had some 330,000 followers by the end of 2010, officials said.
"We use microblogs to deal with emergencies, to hear public complaints, and to alert the public about popular crimes," said Zhao Feng, the official who manages the "Safe Beijing" microblog account.
Police say the new way of communication has proved effective in mending bruised relations between police and public.
Police in China are often criticized for ignoring complaints or responding too harshly to requests they consider trivial. Tensions can run even higher when police are ordered to forcibly resolve disputes.
"We should master the use of microblogs to better interact with the people, to hear their complaints and criticism and to provide better services," Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu told a national police workshop in late December.
Microblogs have become increasingly popular in China, which has about 400 million Internet users - the largest number in the world.
By October 2010, the number of active microblog accounts exceeded 65 million while registered visitors to those sites exceeded 125 million, according to a study published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
In the southern province of Guangdong, the microblog of the provincial police bureau is managed by a group of young officers in their twenties. They tweet in the vernacular to reach the young generation of Internet users.
"We were saddened by online posts that called our microblogs a way of government manipulation of information or intervention," said Liu Bo, a manager of "Safe Nanyue." (Nanyue is another name for Guangdong Province).
"Frankly we are not. We want to offer help and do it more effectively," he said.
Liu said he has been using microblogs to communicate with Internet users so that the public will learn that police officers are ordinary young adults just like them who have their own family chores to take care of.
"We need to do the laundry, we need to babysit. We are not superior but as ordinary as the majority of netizens," he said.
In the eastern Chinese city of Jinan, police use microblogs to hold online conferences to collect public opinion on issues such as traffic rules, visa applications, household registration and fire prevention.
Officials said online conversations could be lively and sometimes even "fiery."
Scholars have applauded such interactions as signs that the ordinary people in China are being granted more say in public affairs, a trend that can lead to government transparency and toward greater democracy.
"More government agencies should join the police in inviting the public to voice complaints online or supervise government work to head off corruption," said Wang Zhongwu, a sociology professor with Shandong University in Jinan.
"Comments posted on the Internet might be uncomfortable to the ears of the authority, but officials have to listen to uncomfortable truths to improve the governance," he said.
At least 500 police bureaus across the country have opened microblog accounts on popular Chinese web portals in the past year. Beijing police's account "Safe Beijing," for example, had some 330,000 followers by the end of 2010, officials said.
"We use microblogs to deal with emergencies, to hear public complaints, and to alert the public about popular crimes," said Zhao Feng, the official who manages the "Safe Beijing" microblog account.
Police say the new way of communication has proved effective in mending bruised relations between police and public.
Police in China are often criticized for ignoring complaints or responding too harshly to requests they consider trivial. Tensions can run even higher when police are ordered to forcibly resolve disputes.
"We should master the use of microblogs to better interact with the people, to hear their complaints and criticism and to provide better services," Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu told a national police workshop in late December.
Microblogs have become increasingly popular in China, which has about 400 million Internet users - the largest number in the world.
By October 2010, the number of active microblog accounts exceeded 65 million while registered visitors to those sites exceeded 125 million, according to a study published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
In the southern province of Guangdong, the microblog of the provincial police bureau is managed by a group of young officers in their twenties. They tweet in the vernacular to reach the young generation of Internet users.
"We were saddened by online posts that called our microblogs a way of government manipulation of information or intervention," said Liu Bo, a manager of "Safe Nanyue." (Nanyue is another name for Guangdong Province).
"Frankly we are not. We want to offer help and do it more effectively," he said.
Liu said he has been using microblogs to communicate with Internet users so that the public will learn that police officers are ordinary young adults just like them who have their own family chores to take care of.
"We need to do the laundry, we need to babysit. We are not superior but as ordinary as the majority of netizens," he said.
In the eastern Chinese city of Jinan, police use microblogs to hold online conferences to collect public opinion on issues such as traffic rules, visa applications, household registration and fire prevention.
Officials said online conversations could be lively and sometimes even "fiery."
Scholars have applauded such interactions as signs that the ordinary people in China are being granted more say in public affairs, a trend that can lead to government transparency and toward greater democracy.
"More government agencies should join the police in inviting the public to voice complaints online or supervise government work to head off corruption," said Wang Zhongwu, a sociology professor with Shandong University in Jinan.
"Comments posted on the Internet might be uncomfortable to the ears of the authority, but officials have to listen to uncomfortable truths to improve the governance," he said.
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