Individual Corruption

It is commonly known that Chinese traffic police extort fines and impose illegal registration fees. According to BBC News, in 2006, a newspaper editor was reportedly attacked by about 50 traffic police officers after his paper reported that illegal fees had been charged by the police for the registration of electric bicycles. The editor later died from his injuries amidst continuing reports of reporters being physically harmed and coerced. Senior traffic police officer Li Xiaoguo was fired for his role in the affair.

The general public seems to have a low regard of the integrity of the police. This is illustrated in Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2010, in which the surveyed households perceive the police to be one of the most corrupt institutions in the country, while a substantial number of households perceive the police to be ‘extremely corrupt’.

Business Corruption

Extortion and illegal fees demanded by police are frequently mentioned in the media, an example is a February 2009 news article by China Daily. The article describes a former senior police officer, who was also a former director of the Chongqing Municipal Judicial Bureau, accused of receiving bribes totalling more than USD 2.4 million between 1996 and 2009, in return for protecting gangs, favouritism and allowing companies access to police investigations.

According to Global Integrity 2009, although formal processes exist for citizens and companies to complain about police activities, none of them can be considered truly independent mechanisms.

Political Corruption

According to Global Integrity 2009, despite law enforcement agencies such as the police receiving a relatively sufficient budget each year, they enrich themselves through other channels such as extortion and corruption. Moreover, it is difficult to assess whether some law enforcement agencies are in fact underfunded, or whether funds are just allocated to provide extra benefits for employees instead of improving law enforcement.

According to a 2010 news article by The Associated Press, an assistant Minister of Public Security, Zheng Shaodong, was given a two year suspended death sentence, for accepting more than USD 1 million in bribes and abuse of power between 2001 and 2007.

Another corruption case that led to a capital punishment, according to 2010 news articles by China Daily and AFP, was when deputy police chief, Wen Qiang, was found guilty of accepting more than USD 2 million in bribes and participation in other corrupt activities. As a consequence, Wen Qiang was executed in July 2010.

Frequency

World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012:
- Business executives give the reliability of Chinese police services to enforce law and order a score of 4.6 on a 7-point scale (1 being 'cannot be relied upon at all' and 7 'can always be relied upon').

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2010:
- 23% of households surveyed consider the police to be 'extremely corrupt'.

- 9.4% of households who had contact with the police in 2009 report to have paid a bribe.

- Citizens give the police a score of 3.4 on a 5-point scale (1 'not at all corrupt' and 5 'extremely corrupt')