The Beijing municipal police department has said it will change
its procedures for handling all cases involving foreigners in the
capital city.
Wu Jianshe, the party chief of the Division of Aliens and the
Exit-Entry Administration of the Beijing Municipal Public Security
Bureau, said all police departments in Beijing will need to be
capable of handling cases involving foreigners.
He added that any station that refuses to handle a foreigner's
case will be breaching its duty by non-performance.
Wu said all cases involving foreigners will be distributed to
police branches at the district level or lower according to where
the incident occurred. The procedure will be the same as the
procedure that relates to domestic cases.
In the past, all cases involving foreigners, including crimes
and appeals for help, were transferred to the Division for Aliens
at the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau. But the party
chief said the division won't be able to handle all the cases
during the Beijing Olympics in 2008, when a large number of
foreigners are expected to visit the city.
Wu said establishing the same procedure for all cases will help
bring the police in line with the internationally recognized best
practice.
Wu also revealed 27 international sports events will be held
this year in Beijing to test the preparation work for the Olympiad.
The police will adopt the new procedure for dealing with
foreigner-related cases for all of these events.
(CRI January 29, 2007)