A Bridge to Better Police Practice

Incidents involving police brutality and mishandling of investigations at China’s police stations are not rare and particular cases have sparked public debate over the abilities of the nation’s police. 　

On March 29, 2017, China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) organized a national meeting, requiring all procuratorial agencies responsible for prosecution and investigation, to increase their supervision of the criminal investigations conducted by local-level police stations. The move was aimed at improving cooperation between public security organs and procuratorates.　

In 2015, the SPP launched 10 provincial-level pilot programs where officers from 1,064 procuratorial departments have been deployed to 8,370 police stations. In these areas, procuratorial agencies have supervised 5,243 cases registered by police stations and proposed 15,162 suggestions for rectification, in a bid to standardize police actions.　

The SPP has required the practice to be extended to all police stations in the current pilot regions during the first half of 2017, before covering the whole country by the end of the year.　

Chen Guangzhong, tenured law professor at the Chinese University of Political Science and Law, believes that procurators are being sent to work at police stations because of the deepening judicial reform being rolled out to improve the supervision of criminal investigations and procedures.　

He told NewsChina that under the Chinese legal system, procuratorial agencies form the link between police investigation and court judgments. Procuratorial agencies face difficulties supervising the work of courts because they can only intervene in the judicial proceedings of courts and rectify matters when violations of the law have happened.　

Song Yinghui, a law professor at Beijing Normal University, told our reporter that during a criminal trial, evidence is, of course, critical and criminal investigations are the main step for collecting evidence. He argued that it is difficult to form a complete body of evidence after a lengthy investigation, which will then affect the subsequent court judgments.　

“It is crucial to supervise the criminal investigations conducted by police officers while they’re happening and correct problems as soon as they are discovered,” he said.　

As early as March 2009, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region began to pilot a program where procurators were stationed at its police stations. As of the end of 2010, 55 procuratorial offices had been established at a third of police stations in major areas of the region, which tend to be urban areas or those with high crime levels. Li Xuejun, deputy procurator-general of the region, told NewsChina that, over the years, procuratorial agencies have automatically supervised the work of police organs through issuing the approval for arrest as required by law, but it is actually only one aspect of the legal supervision conducted by procuratorial agencies.　

On November 5, 2016, Cao Jianming, procurator-general of the SPP, pointed out during a bimonthly session of the National People’s Congress that the supervision of criminal investigation lies in three parts: review of arrest, supervision of case filing and the inspection of investigation activities. Supervision involves the approval of arrests as well as the rectifications of any malpractice and violation of any law during the investigation.　

Bai Yan, director of the supervision department at Xixia district of Yinchuan, the capital city of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, told our reporter that the issuing of a warrant of arrest constitutes “passive supervision” by procuratorial agencies because such agencies can only perform this duty after receiving files about the arrest from the police.　

Song Yinghui echoed Bai’s view, adding that subsequent supervision after an arrest warrant is issued is often poorly managed and badly recorded and, as most files are carefully presented, supervision efforts do not necessarily unearth errors, though problems may abound. He added that supervision is only a remedial measure and miscarriages of justice including forced confessions, the illegal collection of evidence and wrongful convictions have almost certainly already caused harm to defendants.　

In 2005, the Ministry of Public Security issued a directive to give local police stations more power to investigate minor cases that do not need assistance from criminal investigation departments, in a bid to address the shortfalls in police staffing. Because of the relatively weak investigative capacity of local police stations, there has been a growing number of problems.　

Shi Wenping, deputy procurator-general of Xi’an Procuratorate in Shaanxi Province, told NewsChina that there is a lack of professional investigative staff at local police stations and that in some cases there are difficulties gathering a complete chain of evidence thanks to untrained staff who don’t realize how important it iseid. Chen Guangzhong argued that with the current legal context, procurators’ intensified supervision of criminal investigations by the police will contribute to clearing up more criminal cases.　

On December 30, 2015, Xi’an’s Lianhu District Procuratorate established procuratorial offices at two of its 13 police stations, and, every Tuesday since, procurators have been on duty at the offices. Each office is staffed by two procurators who change location every six months. Procurators are authorized to access internal computer networks to check the progress of criminal cases and determine whether any legal violations have been committed during the investigation and case registration.　

According to the procurator-police joint-action mechanism, police organs have to update procurators each month on criminal case registration, withdrawal, and the treatment of the people involved. Likewise, procurators inform the police organs of their supervision of criminal investigations, rectifications and requests for additional investigations if the original is found to be insufficient. Procurators can also inspect police stations to ensure that the rights of any suspects are being protected.　

Li Xuejun, deputy procurator-general of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, said it is the first time procuratorial and police agencies have cooperated so closely and time is needed for the two sides to become accustomed to working with each other.　

Li told our reporter that it is natural for procurators to meet some resistance from police organs. For example, when a procurator decides to check a file, police organs tend to provide selected files. Access to the intranet is also sometimes denied on the pretext of confidentiality. Li argued that the intervention from procurators has made police officers ill at ease and that some believe that “the supervision is deliberately fault-finding.”　

But, Li added, procurators are sometimes not very familiar with the work of police officers and their supervision suggestions are not always pertinent and occasionally even sent with the hopes of securing easy successes by finishing cases quickly. More recently, he said, procurators have become increasingly cautious and responsible in issuing rectifications to prevent excessive law enforcement.　

“Police officers have eventually come to accept the supervision by procurators. There is a major change of thinking and approach from both sides,” Li said. “The supervision offices at police stations have become a communication bridge between procurators and police for the swift sharing of information and play an active role in efforts to standardize law enforcement.”　
Since the pilot program was introduced, it has encountered various challenges. The cooperation protocols signed by local procuratorial and police organs nationwide are only “regulations,” which are difficult to enforce legally. At a time when there has been neither full legal authorization nor uniformly-formulated working practices, the work of procurators has been heavily influenced by the relationship between procuratorial and police departments. Without the support and cooperation of police stations, the supervision of procurators is severely affected.　

“Even though procuratorial agencies have pushed forward reforms that will strengthen procurators’ supervisory role in the investigations of major and complex cases, it is up to the police to decide whether and when an invitation will be sent to procurators,” Shi Wenping said.　

Many procurators hoped that the SPP would unveil regulations for standardizing practices as soon as possible after it gathered experience from the pilot program. Meanwhile, they also hoped that the SPP and Ministry of Public Security could deepen their cooperation and jointly formulate general rules for supervising judicial practices and investigations.　

Li Xuejun told our reporter that when a problem arises, it is common for procurators to issue a supervision suggestion, and they are not likely to issue a rectification until a major violation of the law occurs. Since 2013, procuratorial agencies have provided statements for correction on around 175,000 investigative activities nationwide where the law might have been violated, and more than 91 percent of the recommendations were adopted by investigators. If police organs fail to respond to supervision suggestions or rectifications in time, however, it has been impossible for procuratorial agencies to apply any mandatory measures as there are no legal provisions for their enforcement.　

Li Yuhong, head of the supervision department of Lianhu District, Xi’an, considers the biggest challenge in intensifying supervision over criminal investigations at police stations to be the lack of personnel. He told our reporter that a procurator has to deal with 800 cases a year, involving a total of 1,100 people on average and it is not uncommon for procurators to check cases and supervise police stations simultaneously.　

Chen Guangzhong suggested that if embedding supervision offices within police stations proved effective, it would be necessary to increase manpower and financial resources before expanding the program nationwide. He added that procurators should be authorized and empowered to rectify any violations of the law. 　

“It is crucial to restrict power through power. ‘Restriction’ of power is nothing but an empty phrase if the supervisory authority has no power,” said Chen.