Ministry of Public Security (China)

The Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China (MPS) is the principal police and security authority of the People's Republic of China and the government ministry that exercises oversight over and is ultimately responsible for day-to-day law enforcement. It has 1.9 million officers. It is headed by the Minister of Public Security. Prior to 1954, it was known as the Ministry of Public Security of the Central People's Government. The Ministry operates the system of Public Security Bureaus, which are broadly the equivalent of police forces or police stations in other countries. The candidate for the minister of the MPS is nominated by the Premier of the People's Republic of China and approved by the National People's Congress. As the main domestic security agency in the People's Republic of China, the MPS is the equivalent of the National Police Agency in Japan or national police in other countries.

Not to be confused with Ministry of State Security of the People's Republic of China or National Security Commission of the Communist Party of China.

Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China
中华人民共和国公安部
Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Gōng'ānbù
Emblem of the People's Republic of China
(in the centre of each ministry's seal)
Emblem of the People's Police of the PRC (with branches outside the Public Security organs)
Agency overview
Formed1954
Preceding agency
  • Ministry of Public Security of the Central People's Government
    (1949–1954)
TypeConstituent Department of the State Council (cabinet-level)
Jurisdiction Mainland China
HeadquartersBeijing
Employees1.9 million police officers
Ministers responsible
  • Zhao Kezhi, Minister
  • Wang Xiaohong, Shi Jun, Meng Qingfeng, Li Wei, Vice-Ministers
  • Deng Weiping, Leader of the Discipline Inspection & Supervision Team Dispatched from the CCDI & the NSC
  • Liu Yuejin, the Anti-Terrorism Commissioner
  • Wang Jian, the Assistant to the Minister
Parent agencyState Council
Child agencies
  • State Immigration Administration
  • China National Central Bureaus of Interpol
Websitewww.mps.gov.cn
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When it was established in 1949 (after the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War), the MPS, with PLA General Luo Ruiqing as its first Minister, was, based on Soviet and Eastern Bloc models, responsible for all aspects of security, ranging from regular police work to intelligence, counter-intelligence and suppression of anti-communist political and social groups.[1] Military intelligence remained with the PLA General Staff, while the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China was active in fomenting revolution internationally by funneling weapons, money and resources to various pro-Chinese groups worldwide.[2]

However, since the creation, in 1983, of the Ministry of State Security (MSS), which took over responsibility for many national security issues such as domestic and foreign intelligence-gathering and fighting espionage and subversion, the MPS has focused its efforts on regular law enforcement. Hong Kong and Macau have their own security bureaus or agencies and police forces. As of November 2017, the Minister of Public Security is Zhao Kezhi.

History

The Ministry of Public Security was among the very first government organs of the PRC. It superseded the Ministry of Public Security of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission, a transitional body created in July 1949 by removing the security service remit from the CCP Central Department of Social Affairs (CDSA). The ministry began operations on 1 November 1949, at the end of a two-week-long National Conference of Senior Public Security Cadres. Most of its initial staff of less than 500 cadres came from the (former) regional CCP North China Department of Social Affairs. At the national level, its creation signaled the formal abolition of the CDSA. The ministry moved to its present location, in the heart of the one-time foreign legation quarters in Beijing, in the spring of 1950.[3]

List of Ministers
No.NameFromToPremier
1Luo RuiqingOctober 1949September 1959Zhou Enlai
2Xie FuzhiSeptember 1959March 1972Zhou Enlai
3Li ZhenMarch 19721973Zhou Enlai
4Hua Guofeng1973March 1977Zhou Enlai
Hua Guofeng
5Zhao CangbiMarch 1977April 1983Hua Guofeng
Zhao Ziyang
6Liu FuzhiMay 1983August 1985Zhao Ziyang
7Ruan ChongwuSeptember 1985March 1987Zhao Ziyang
8Wang FangApril 1987November 1990Zhao Ziyang
Li Peng
9Tao SijuDecember 1990March 1998Li Peng
10Jia ChunwangMarch 1998December 2002Li Peng
Zhu Rongji
11Zhou YongkangDecember 2002October 2007Zhu Rongji
Wen Jiabao
12Meng JianzhuOctober 2007December 2012Wen Jiabao
13Guo ShengkunDecember 2012November 2017Wen Jiabao
Li Keqiang
14Zhao KezhiNovember 2017IncumbentLi Keqiang

Organization
A police car on Tiananmen Square.
Headquarters of the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing

The MPS is organized into functional departments (see below). Subordinate to the MPS are the provincial- and municipal-level PSB and sub-bureaus at the county and urban district levels. At the grassroots level, finally, there are police stations (paichusuo) which serve as the direct point of contact between police and ordinary citizens. While public security considerations have weighed heavily at all levels of administration since the founding of the PRC, the police are perceived by some outside observers to wield progressively greater influence at lower levels of government.

The organization of local public security stations may be inferred from the tasks with which the police are charged. Generally, each police station has sections assigned to cover census and household registration matters, pretrial investigations, welfare, traffic control, and other activities. Each also has a detention center.

Departmental structure

At the time of its creation, the Ministry of Public Security had a simple departmental structure comprising one general office and six functional directorates, numbered sequentially and responsible for political security, economic security, public order and administration, border security, armed security, and personnel. Today's ministry is organized into the following departments:

  • Central Office,
  • Supervision,
  • Personnel & Training,
  • Public Relations,
  • Economic Crime Investigation,
  • Public Order Administration,
  • Border Control,
  • Criminal Investigation,
  • Exit & Entry Administration,
  • Fire Control,
  • Security Protection,
  • Public Information Network Security Supervision,
  • Penitentiary Administration,
  • Traffic Control,
  • Legal Affairs,
  • International Cooperation,
  • Equipment and Finance,
  • Drug Control,
  • Science & Technology,
  • Counter-terrorism, and
  • Info-communications.

Railway, navigation, civil aviation, forestry and anti-smuggling public security departments are under the dual leadership of their superior administration and the MPS.[4]

Responsibilities and operations

In the 1980s the public security station—the police element in closest contact with the people—was supervised by the public security subbureau as well as by local governments and procuratorates. The procuratorate could assume direct responsibility for any case that it chose, and it supervised investigations in those cases in which the public security station was allowed to conduct investigations. A great deal of coordination occurred among the public security organs, the procuratorates, and the courts, so that a trial was unlikely to produce a surprise outcome.

The public security station generally had considerably broader responsibilities than a police station in the West, involving itself in every aspect of the district people's lives. In a rural area a station typically has a chief, a deputy chief, a small administrative staff, and a small police force. In an urban area it usually has a greater number of administrative staff members and seven to eighteen patrolmen. Its criminal law activities included investigation, apprehension, interrogation, and temporary detention. The station's household section maintained a registry of all persons living in the area. Births, deaths, marriages, and divorces were recorded and confirmed through random household checks. The station regulated all hotels and required visitors who remained beyond a certain number of days to register. All theaters, cinemas, radio equipment, and printing presses also were registered with the local public security station, permitting it to regulate gatherings and censor information effectively. It also regulated the possession, transportation, and use of all explosives, guns, ammunition, and poisons.

Another important police function was controlling change of residence. Without such controls, large numbers of rural residents undoubtedly would move to the overcrowded cities in search of better living standards, work, or education. In April 1984 the State Council issued the Tentative Regulations Governing People's Republic of China Resident Identity, this became the identification card of the People's Republic of China. The regulations, implemented over a period of years, required all residents over sixteen years of age, except active-duty members of the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police and inmates serving prison sentences, to be issued resident identity cards by the MPS. The identification card indicates the name, sex, nationality, ethnicity, date of birth, and address of the bearer. Cards for persons sixteen to twenty-five years of age were valid for ten years; those for persons between twenty-five and forty-five were valid for twenty years; and persons over forty-five were issued permanent cards. As of early 1987, only 70 million people had been issued identity cards, well below the national goal. Also, even those with resident identity cards preferred to use other forms of identification.

Criminal procedure powers

Public security officials also made extensive use of their authority to impose administrative sanctions through two sets of documents. These were the 1957 Regulations on re-education through labor, which were reissued in 1979 with amendments (abolished 2015), and the 1957 Regulations Governing Offenses Against Public Order, which were rescinded and replaced in 1986 by regulations of the same name. Offenders under the Regulations on Reeducation Through Labor might include "vagabonds, people who have no proper occupation, and people who repeatedly breach public order." The police could apprehend such individuals and sentence them to reeducation through labor with the approval of local labor-training administration committees. The 1957 regulations placed no limit on the length of sentences, but beginning in the early 1960s sentences of three or four years were the norm. The 1979 amended Regulations, however, limited the length of reeducation through labor to three years with the possibility of extensions in extraordinary cases. The Regulations Governing Offenses Against Public Order empowered the police to admonish, fine, or detain people for up to fifteen days. Goods illegally in the possession of an offender were to be confiscated, and payment was imposed for damages or hospital fees in the event that injury had been caused.

The criminal laws in force after January 1, 1980, restricted police powers regarding arrests, investigations, and searches. A public security official or a citizen could apprehend a suspect under emergency conditions, but a court or procuratorate was required to approve the arrest. The accused had to be questioned within twenty-four hours and his or her family or work unit notified of the detention "except in circumstances where notification would hinder the investigation or there was no way to notify them." Any premeditated arrest required a warrant from a court or procuratorate. The time that an accused could be held pending investigation was limited to three to seven days, and incarceration without due process was made illegal.

Two officials were needed to conduct a criminal investigation. They were required to show identification and, apparently, to inform the accused of the crime allegedly committed before he or she was questioned. The suspect could refuse to answer only those questions irrelevant to the case. Torture was rendered illegal.

The 1980 laws also provided that in conjunction with an arrest the police could conduct an emergency search; otherwise, a warrant was required. They had the right to search the person, property, and residence of an accused and the person of any injured party. They could intercept mail belonging to the accused and order an autopsy whenever cause of death was unclear.

In July 1980 the government approved new regulations governing police use of weapons and force. Police personnel could use their batons only in self-defense or when necessary to subdue or prevent the escape of violent criminals or rioters. Lethal weapons, such as pistols, could be used if necessary to stop violent riots, to lessen the overall loss of life, or to subdue surrounded but still resisting criminals. The regulations even governed use of sirens, police lights, and whistles.

Public relations

External

The relationship between the police officers assigned to neighborhood patrols and the people was close. Police officers lived in a neighborhood on a long-term assignment and were expected to know all the residents on a personal basis. Their task was not only to prevent and punish crime but to promote desirable behavior by counseling and acting as role models. These socially responsible aspects of the police officer's duties were constant responsibilities, and the bond between the public security units and the people was strengthened annually by means of "cherish-the-people" months, during which the police officer made a special effort to help the local people, especially the aged and infirm.

Internal

The Public Security Construction (公安建设) was a classified serial publication for internal purposes.[5] During the disastrous Great Leap Forward between 1958–1961, the Public Security Work Bulletin (公安工作简报) was a top-secret serial which often described China's serious food shortages, directly contradicting Mao Zedong's promises of "bountiful economic fruit".[6][7] Another periodical People’s Public Security (人民公安)[lower-alpha 1] was also produced and classified as "for official use only".[8][9]

Recruitment

Police are officially drawn from every segment of the population without restriction as to sex or ethnic origin. Selection is based on political loyalty, intelligence, and health, as it is for the PLA. There is at least one police school in every provincial-level unit, and others are operated by municipalities. Usually those police designated for leadership positions attend the police schools, and patrolmen are trained at the unit and on the job. Legal training is emphasized as a method of improving the quality of the police forces. In 1985 three institutions of higher learning for police personnel were established—the Chinese People's Public Security University, the University of Police Officers, and the Institute of Criminal Police—offering more than twenty special courses. Students are recruited from the pool of senior middle-school graduates under twenty-two years of age, with a waiver to twenty-five years of age for those who have a minimum of two years' experience in public security work.

Firearms

Local municipal police under the MPS formally were usually unarmed with firearms routinely in contrast to the soldiers of the People's Armed Police (PAP), however they are armed with expandable batons and incapacitant sprays. Sometimes, multiple use tactical knives are issued to the policemen.

A decision has been taken to train in the use of sidearms to all frontline MPS personnel since 2006. The 9×19mm double-action revolver manufactured by the China North Industries Corporation [10] are issued to frontline personnel, and officers armed them routinely

For more firepower, detectives and special units are routinely armed with NP 22 and QSZ-92 semi-automatic pistols. Sub-machine guns, rifles and light machine guns are deployed when more firepower are required.

Handguns
Product list and details
 Make/Model   Type   Origin   Usage since   Main users 
Norinco Type 54  People's Republic of China 1954–1988 Frontline officers (obsolete, mostly phased out by QSZ-92)
Norinco Type 64  People's Republic of China 1980–2008 Detectives & frontline officers(obsolete, mostly phased out by QSW-06)
Norinco 9mm Revolver  People's Republic of China 2006–Present Patrol police
Norinco Type 77  People's Republic of China 1981–Present Detectives
Norinco QSZ-92  People's Republic of China 1996–Present Frontline officers
Norinco QSW-06  People's Republic of China 2006–Present Special forces
Norinco NP 22  People's Republic of China 2015–Present Special forces & detectives
Taurus PT109  Brazil 2014–Present Limited use in guard details
Submachine guns
Product list and details
 Make/Model   Type   Origin   Usage since   Main users 
Norinco Type 79 [11]  People's Republic of China 1979–Present Special units
Norinco NR-08  People's Republic of China 2008–Present Special units
Norinco JS 9 mm  People's Republic of China 2006–Present Special units
Rifles
Product list and details
 Make/Model   Type   Origin   Usage since   Main users 
Norinco QBZ-95  People's Republic of China 1997–Present Special units
Norinco QBZ-03  People's Republic of China 2002–Present Special units
Norinco Type 81  People's Republic of China 1983–Present Reserve units
Norinco Norinco CQ  People's Republic of China 1980–Present Some police units, notably Sichuan Police Department and Chongqing SWAT
Shotguns
Product list and details
 Make/Model   Type   Origin   Usage since   Main users 
Norinco Norinco HP9-1  People's Republic of China 2001–Present Patrol Units

Fleet
The Public Security name 公安 (GongAn) and the People's Police emblem are marked on the sides of the vehicle. The bonnet/hood of the vehicle has the Police (警察) marking on top.
gollark: You could just operate on a bounding box containing the entire thing, if you have a way to get that from images.
gollark: I'm not sure this is true. It should still be more efficient to have a *few* humans "preprocess" things for robotics of some kind than to have it entirely done by humans.
gollark: Those are computationally hard problems, but I would be really surprised if there wasn't *some* fast heuristic way to do them.
gollark: Except that people are somewhat inconsistent about how much inconvenience/time/whatever is worth how much money.
gollark: I'm not sure you can reasonably call their preferences *wrong*.

See also

Notes
  1. Its official English-language title is People's Police.

References

Citations
  1. From the Social Affairs Department to Ministry of Public Security, in Xuezhi Guo: China's Security State: Philosophy, Evolution, and Politics, 2012, Cambridge University Press
  2. Directorate of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency (December 1971). "Intelligence Report: The International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 31, 2012. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
  3. Wang Zhongfang, "Gonganbu shi zemyang chenglide," in Zhu Chunlin (ed.) Lishi shunjian (Beijing: Qunzhong chubanshe, 1999), Vol. 1, pp. 3–16.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 8, 2012. Retrieved September 12, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Schoenhals, Michael (February 18, 2013). Spying for the People: Mao's Secret Agents, 1949–1967. Cambridge University Press. pp. 105–6. ISBN 9781139619714.
  6. Cheek, Timothy (August 23, 2010). A Critical Introduction to Mao. Cambridge University Press. p. 116. ISBN 9781139789042.
  7. Schoenhals, Michael (February 18, 2013). Spying for the People: Mao's Secret Agents, 1949–1967. Cambridge University Press. pp. 31, 42, 106. ISBN 9781139619714.
  8. Schoenhals, Michael (February 18, 2013). Spying for the People: Mao's Secret Agents, 1949–1967. Cambridge University Press. p. 129. ISBN 9781139619714.
  9. Lim, J.; Petrone, K. (December 14, 2010). Gender Politics and Mass Dictatorship: Global Perspectives. Springer. p. 238. ISBN 9780230283275.
  10. "9mm Chinese Police revolver". Archived from the original on April 6, 2008. Retrieved March 6, 2008.

Sources
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