Q: It is reported that comprehensive measures for improvement of public order have been adopted in China, which have effectively prevented and reduced the crime rate and put China among countries with the lowest crime rate in the world. What are these major measures, and what are their features?

A: With the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy, the public order has been straightened up in accompaniment to economic development and a swift advance in people's living standards. Anyone who has been to China at least twice can feel the improvement. This is due, in part, to the comprehensive measures adopted since the 1980s, giving equal importance to crackdown and prevention, with both stopgap measures and solutions that work at the root of the problem.

Cracking down on crime is the first and foremost step in maintaining public order. Some regions are more troubled by serious criminal offenses and public disorder, and so the government has concentrated on cracking down on certain types of crimes during certain periods and areas, all the while emphasizing the regular execution of laws. At the same time, public security departments are strengthening coordination with other parts of government to enhance the efficiency of crackdown.

However, prevention measures are more effective than crackdown in maintaining public order. With this belief, China has established a four-part crime prevention and control mechanism, carrying out measures in earnest to prevent and reduce illegal activities. The mechanism is composed of four networks.

First is the community-level crime prevention and control network. It functions mainly through the police station, patrol police officers on duty and the criminal police squadron, with the help of the community security committee and community policing patrol, consisting of guards and volunteers.

Second is the society-level crime prevention and control network. Designed to monitor trunk roads, key areas and locations where criminal activities and accidents frequently occur, this network can efficiently help prevent crimes and accidents.

Third is the network within an organization, institution or company, comprised mainly of the unit's security group and policing patrol.

Fourth is the network guarding against illegal activities at areas bordering provinces, cities and counties, and where urban and rural areas meet.

At the same time, the Chinese Government has strengthened the administration of its population through administrative jurisdictions at different levels and drawn distinctions between people posing threats to the public order, such as the migrant population, ex-convicts who are set free after serving their sentences, shiftless and idle youth, and drug addicts.

As well, the government has strengthened control over guns and bullets, explosives, poisons and other dangerous goods, and completed a command and dispatch mechanism for rapid response that features information sharing, high efficiency and authoritativeness. With information about the registered population, vehicles, official seals, hotels, guns, explosives and financial outlets available online at computer terminals nationwide, this mechanism, having at its core the command and dispatch center and the alarm call service center, will work for any alarm call, with police responding rapidly and smoothly.

It has been proven that strengthening administrative measures related to public order is part of the solution to the public order problem in China, and also helps to maintain good social order. Currently, China is promoting the establishment of the crime prevention and control mechanism nationwide, strengthening and completing the working mechanism of comprehensive administration at grassroots level so as to further prevent and deal with crime.