Politics

For Profit Surveillance

A netizen’s finding that one traffic camera had captured hundreds of thousands of violations in a year, amounting to millions of yuan in fines, led to a public backlash over the perceived profit-driven model of traffic law enforcement

By Xu Tian Updated Jul.1

When a driver in Foshan, Guangdong Province surnamed Yuan tried to pay a traffic ticket through a mobile app, he noticed the system showed the same surveillance camera at the same location had reported more than 620,000 violations over the previous year, an average of 1,700 violations a day, according to his calculations. Yuan shared his discovery on social media, which led to an instant backlash against what many are calling a profit-driven system of law enforcement by China’s traffic police.

Driving Revenue

On April 13, Foshan traffic police said the actual number of reported violations was 184,383 as of April 2, far less than the alleged 620,000. The police said that traffic cams had helped to more than halve the annual number of traffic accidents in that location from 85 to 39, while reducing the number of people injured due to accidents from 13 to 3. 　

But the explanation did little to appease public anger, as the new figure is still extremely high. The camera was installed on March 8, 2020, and 475 violations were reported a day. As a ticket typically costs a driver 200 yuan (US$31), it means just this one camera installed at one junction generated some 37 million yuan (US$5.6m) in revenue for local police. 　

Most of the fines were for changing lanes. Many Foshan drivers complained that unclear signage meant they could not enter the turn lane in time, forcing them to cross the solid white lines between lanes. This had led to repeated fines. In addition, three points are deducted from a license with each infraction – losing 12 points in a year means a suspended license. 　

Foshan police said later they have improved road signage and painted dotted lines to guide vehicles at that junction. 　

Han Deyun, a Chongqing-based lawyer and delegate to the National People’s Congress (NPC), has been a long-time critic of police abuses of digital surveillance devices, raising the issue during the annual NPC session in Beijing in March. According to Han, even though annual fines meted out by traffic police in 2020 amounted to 300 billion yuan (US$46.2b), equivalent to about 1,000 yuan (US$154) per vehicle, there is no effective public supervision of the police over either the law enforcement practices or how they use the money raised through fines. 　

There are no accurate publicly available figures on the amounts of fines levied. The figures Han cited come from a spreadsheet detailing the amount of traffic fines in each province, which started circulating on social media in January. It was widely cited and discussed by media and experts, and authorities never denied or confirmed the data it provided. 　

“The use of digital police devices in recent years makes it easy for traffic police to detect traffic violations,” Han told NewsChina, “but without effective regulation and supervision, this increased efficiency can be easily abused.” 　

The use of surveillance cameras to enforce traffic law in China started in 1997, when a new law allowing their use went into effect. But there has been rapid growth in these “digital police devices” in recent years. On April 4, 2009, the Ministry of Public Security issued a decree requiring local police to publicize the location of surveillance devices, although the requirement itself is vague. This means it is enforced in different ways in difference places, although many cities have since revealed the number and location of cameras that are already in place or will be installed. 　

In 2009, Beijing police said it had installed 2,178 traffic surveillance devices. The figure almost quadrupled within four years to 8,368 in 2013. Since then, Beijing police have not updated the total number of traffic surveillance devices citywide. Based on periodic announcements, 9,145 additional traffic surveillance devices were installed between March 2020 and March 2021 alone.

As there is no established legal procedure regarding the installation and management of surveillance devices, there is no check on cities that aggressively expand their surveillance networks. Although police are required by law to reveal when and where they are installing traffic cams, the regulation is poorly enforced. When the information is available, the sheer number of surveillance cameras is overwhelming. 　

Local governments’ enthusiasm for surveillance systems led to a boom in the sector. According to a report by newsijie.com, an industrial consulting group, the market for digital police equipment in China amounted to 13.2 billion yuan (US$2.4b) in 2019. 　

Punitive Profits

According to Li Zuhua, standing director of the Society of Police Law of Shaanxi Province, a common problem among all local traffic police divisions is that the use of surveillance systems is not driven out of consideration to improve road safety and efficiency, but to maximize penalties. “In some cities, the speed limit on wide and open roads is just 40 kilometers per hour, which inevitably causes traffic congestion, or traffic surveillance cameras are installed in hazardous sections that could cause more accidents,” Li told NewsChina. “They can shorten the duration between when traffic lights change so drivers are more likely to run red lights,” Li added. 　

In 2018, Dazhong Daily, a local newspaper in Shandong Province, found that on one section of highway, the speed limit changed seven times, ranging from 40 to 80 km/h within just 20 minutes of driving. 　

According to Li, a major driving force behind these abuses of power is that many local governments use traffic fines as a source of government revenue. While there are no established legal procedures on procurement and installation of traffic surveillance systems, local governments have adopted various models to fund them. 　

Song Lining, an executive at a Chinese surveillance equipment company, told NewsChina that the BOT (Build-OperateTransfer) model was once very popular with local governments. Under this model, local governments do not have to appropriate funds for surveillance system projects. These projects are installed and operated at the expense of the installation company, which is reimbursed through the collection of traffic fines. 　

The BOT model not only amplified the financial incentives behind these surveillance projects but also led to other serious problems. According to a 2017 industrial report from ocn.com.cn, a Shenzhen based consulting company, some local governments authorized surveillance system companies to enforce traffic laws on their behalf under the BOT model. In Xingping County, Shaanxi Province, a surveillance system company reconfigured a speed camera so it would issue at least 1,000 speeding tickets every day regardless of how many drivers were speeding. 　

As many provincial governments opted to ban the BOT model, Song said that most surveillance projects are now installed and operated under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. Under the PPP model, surveillance system companies are responsible for installation and technical support but play no role in law enforcement. 　

But similar to the BOT model, local governments still do not pay up-front for these projects. Contractors are reimbursed only after the system is handed over to police and it starts collecting fines. 　

Power Unchecked

Many local governments said that now neither local police nor surveillance system companies have a hand in the traffic ticket payment system and there is no direct link between the spending on traffic surveillance systems and the revenue earned from traffic tickets. But for as long as traffic violation payments remain a major revenue source for local coffers, the financial incentives to maximize revenue from traffic tickets remains as strong as in the past. 　

In a report published in April, Banyuetan Journal, a publication under the Xinhua News Agency, found in an unspecified county in northern China that traffic ticket payments amounted to over 30 million yuan (US$4.6m) in 2020, accounting for about 30 percent of the county’s annual government revenue of some 100 million yuan (US$15.4m). 　

Many of the traffic violation payments are generated on a provincial highway where the speed limit drops abruptly from 60 to 30 km/h when it enters the county. 　

On April 13, in a meeting on traffic law enforcement, the Ministry of Public Security pledged to strengthen regulation of local police forces and crack down on what it called “excessive, profitdriven and rough” law enforcement. 　

But according to Mao Mingchen, a law professor at Wenzhou University, Zhejiang Province, there is no way the problem can be solved by law enforcement authorities alone given their embedded interests. Mao said the fundamental problem is not whether the public is informed about where the surveillance cameras are or whether there is a way to appeal a traffic ticket, but who holds the power to decide whether and where to install surveillance systems. 　

“The problem is that the same group of people monopolize the power to both enact and enforce the law,” Mao told NewsChina, “and they do so often to benefit themselves.” Until the public is involved in the decision regarding the installation of surveillance systems, the profit-driven system of traffic law enforcement will continue, Mao added.　

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For Profit Surveillance