China's Corrupt Police
Despite their position as one of the crucial foundations of the Chinese communist state, the country's citizens are growing increasingly fed up with widespread corruption and lack of accountability, perhaps no better exemplified by the police chief of Shaoguan, in Guangdong province.
Ye Shuyang, a former butcher, required officers at district stations to prepare sharp knives and live pigs for him, according to media reports. Ye Shuyang didn't kill them at once, but slowly, enjoying the pain he inflicted on the animals.
Nor was inflicting pain on helpless animals was his only vice. Late last year Ye was arrested for having embezzled 30 million yuan in illegal income, much of it spent on luxury villas for himself and fellow senior police officers.Ye was one of five top Guangdong officers arrested for a variety of offenses, including corruption, selling visas to Hong Kong, taking money from owners of brothels and gambling public money in Macau.
The news of the arrests aroused interest but no surprise among the Chinese public, accustomed to the malfeasance and illegality of their police and powerless to do much about it. Just last week, Wu Xianghu, the editor of a newspaper in Taizhou, died of complications from being attacked by 50 policemen last October after his paper accused them of charging illegal bicycle fees. China's media have reported a string of such torture and coercion cases by police, largely to no avail.
As in the former Soviet Union and other Communist countries, the police are one of the pillars of the state, an indispensable ally on which, along with the army, the party relies to remain in power. As a reward, the police and army enjoy privileges given to no other groups in society. They are subject to no external scrutiny. The media may only publish stories about them which the police provide: reporters and editors who independently criticize them run a serious risk for their careers and their publications – not to mention physical danger or death.
The story of an unemployed man who murdered six police officers in Shanghai last year provides an extraordinary insight in how the public sees the institution. Born in August 1980 in Beijing and educated up to secondary school, Yang Jia was unemployed. On the evening of October 5, 2007, he was cycling on a street in Shanghai and stopped by police who asked to see his bicycle license. Since he refused to cooperate, Yang was taken to the local police station and questioned about where he had obtained the bicycle. He was beaten, with bruises to his arms and back.
After his release, he was angry about the ill treatment he had received and sent complaints by e-mail and telephone to the station. After further meetings with the police, he demanded 10,000 yuan in compensation. He did not receive it and vowed to take revenge.
On June 26, he returned to Shanghai and purchased a single-bladed knife, anti-drug face mask and tear gas spray equipment. Later he made several petrol bombs. On July 1, the birthday of the Communist Party, he returned to the station where he had been interrogated, let off eight petrol bombs and ran inside: he went on a rampage, stabbing nine officers, of whom six died of their injuries.
