) , abbreviation = zh , c = 民警 , p = Mínjǐng , l = People's Police, labels = no , logo = , logocaption = , badge = Police Badge of China.svg , badgecaption = Badge of the People's Police (since 1983) , patch = File:Chinese police shoulder sleeve insignia (公安).svg , patchcaption = Patch of MPS People's Police , flag = Flag of the People's Police of the People's Republic of China.svg , flagcaption = Flag of the People's Police (since 2020) , motto = ""
("Be loyal to the party, serve the people, be impartial in law enforcement, and strict in discipline") , formed = 19 October 1949 , preceding1 = , employees = 1.8–1.9 million , volunteers = , budget = $110 billion (est. 2019) , country = People's Republic of China , national = Yes , map = , mapcaption = , sizearea = , sizepopulation = , legaljuris = , governingbody =

Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is the Central committee, highest organ when the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, national congress is not ...

, oversightbody =

National Supervisory Commission The National Supervisory Commission is the highest supervisory and anti-corruption authority of the People's Republic of China. Formed in 2018 by an 2018 amendment to the Constitution of China, amendment to the Constitution of China, Constitut ...

, governingbodyscnd =

Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (CPLC), commonly referred to as ''Zhongyang Zhengfawei'' (, literally "Central Poli-Legal Commission") in Chinese, is the organization under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Part ...

, constitution1 = People's Police Law of the People's Republic of China , police = Yes , local = , headquarters = Beijing , parentagency =

Ministry of Public Security Ministry of Public Security can refer to: * Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Brazil) * Ministry of Public Security of Burundi * Ministry of Public Security (Chile) * Ministry of Public Security (China) * Ministry of Public Security of Co ...

Ministry of State Security

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

Supreme People's Court The Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China (SPC) is the highest court of the People's Republic of China. It hears appeals of cases from the high people's courts and is the trial court for cases about matters of national ...

Supreme People's Procuratorate The Supreme People's Procuratorate of the People's Republic of China (SPP) is the highest national agency responsible for legal prosecution and prosecutorial investigation in China. The SPP reports to the National People's Congress (NPC). The P ...

, electeetype = Official , minister1pfo = Secretary of the

, minister1name =

Chen Wenqing Chen Wenqing (, IPA: ; born 24 January 1960) is a Chinese intelligence officer, politician and member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party who currently serves as the secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. ...

, chief1position = Minister of Public Security , chief1name =

Wang Xiaohong Wang Xiaohong ( zh, c=王小洪, p=Wáng Xiǎohóng; born 11 July 1957) is a Chinese politician who has been serving as the minister of public security of China and deputy secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the C ...

, chief2position = Minister of State Security , chief2name = Chen Yixin , unittype = , unitname = , officetype = , officename = , stationtype = , stations = 5,000 (est.) , provideragency = , uniformedas = , footnotes = , anniversary1 = 10 January (People's Police Day) , website = MPS:
MSS: The People's Police () is the national

civilian police The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizens ...

force of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Roles

Police in China have a variety of roles in addition to enforcing the law. They are also responsible for the maintenance of social stability ( zh, s=维护社会稳定, labels=no, c=, t=, p=Wéihù Shèhùi Wěndìng), and in this sense perform not just a law enforcement function but a political function as well. The majority of national police forces are under the jurisdiction of the

(MPS). Over the years, the power of the police has gradually been expanded to border control, under the auspices of the China Immigration Inspection (CII), household registration, issuance of the National ID card (see:

Resident Identity Card The Resident Identity Card () is an official identity document for personal identification in the People's Republic of China. According to the second chapter, tenth clause of the ''Resident Identity Card Law'', residents are required to apply f ...

) and cybersecurity (under the 11th Bureau of the MPS), network security and website registration.

Title

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

, ''People's Police'' refers to the identity of

law enforcement officer A law enforcement officer (LEO), or police officer or peace officer in North American English, is a public-sector or private-sector employee whose duties primarily involve the enforcement of laws, protecting life & property, keeping the peace, ...

s, while ''Public Security'' or ''the'' ''police'' denotes a specific government agency, namely the ''public security organ''. Although prison police, judicial police, and other such units also fall under the police system, due to the special nature of their work, they are generally not referred to as ''the'' ''police''. Before the turn of the 21st century, public security officers often used ''Public Security'' as their designation and term of address, rather than the broader term ''the'' ''police''. Additionally, public security officers, who handle the majority of public order and criminal cases, are the most frequently encountered police force by the public. These factors have led some people, especially those in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, and

overseas Chinese Overseas Chinese people are Chinese people, people of Chinese origin who reside outside Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan). As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. As of 2023, there were 10.5 milli ...

communities, to inaccurately refer to mainland China's police officers as ''Public Security.'' The

uniform A uniform is a variety of costume worn by members of an organization while usually participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency serv ...

s and

vehicle A vehicle () is a machine designed for self-propulsion, usually to transport people, cargo, or both. The term "vehicle" typically refers to land vehicles such as human-powered land vehicle, human-powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles, tricycles, velo ...

liveries of the People's Police generally maintain a consistent style, with their primary distinctions being the inscriptions indicating the departments to which various police forces belong, namely ''Public Security'', ''Justice'', ''State Security'', ''Court'', and ''Procuratorate''.

History

Founded in October 1949 with the inception of the

, and controlled by the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

(CCP), China's major national police force operates under the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).Tao Xu and Nan Yang, "''Chinese policing: its history from a legal perspective''" in "''Comparative Policing from a Legal Perspective''", edited by Monica den Boer, pp. 363-380, 2018, Edward Elgar Publishing The influence of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

was paramount in the early years of the People's Republic, and guided the Chinese approach to policing. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

(1966–76), the powers of the police were both strengthened and weakened; on the one hand, they were given control over much of the judicial system, since People's Courts and

People's Procuratorates The judiciary of the People's Republic of China (PRC), organized under the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, constitution and Organic Law of the People's Courts of the People's Republic of China, organic law, is one of five org ...

basically collapsed, meaning that local directors of public security bureaus could easily arrest and convict almost any person they chose; on the other hand, the top leadership of the police was almost totally purged and persecuted, and political commissars from the PLA (most of them hand-picked by the

Cultural Revolution Group The Central Cultural Revolution Group (CRG or CCRG; ) was formed in May 1966 as a replacement organisation to the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party and the Five Man Group, and was initially directly responsible to the Politburo Standi ...

) were brought in to take control over the largest and most important public security bureaus, including those of

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. The current structure and mission of the People's Police was formalized in the People's Police Law of the People's Republic of China (February 1995), which states:

Branches

According to the People's Police Law of the People's Republic of China (1995), the People's Police comprises five components: * People's Police of Public Security Organs ** ** Working under the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) * People's Police of State Security Organs ** ** Working under the Ministry of State Security (MSS) * People's Police of Judicial Administrative Organs ** ** Working under the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) * Judicial Police of People's Court ** ** Working under the Supreme People's Court (SPC) * Judicial Police of People's Procuratorate ** ** Working under the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP)

Public Security Police In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

The Public Security Police handle routine law enforcement tasks such as maintaining public order, conducting criminal investigations, and managing border control. This constitutes the majority of China's police force and falls under the jurisdiction of the MPS. Ford Transit Pro police van IMG001

State Security Police

The State Security Police are responsible for intelligence collection and analysis, counter-espionage, political security, and also partially participate in domestic security affairs. These officers operate under the MSS. They generally perform

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

duties and help maintain social stability and preserve the power of the ruling

. They should not be confused with the 1st Bureau of the MPS (described above in the Public Security Police section), despite sometimes similar duties and overlapping missions.

Judicial Administrative Police

The Judicial Administrative Police consists mainly of police officers stationed in prisons and drug rehabilitation centers. Prison Police oversee prison security, carry out

prison guard A prison officer (PO) or corrections officer (CO), also known as a correctional law enforcement officer or less formally as a prison guard, is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation ...

duties, and aid in prison administration, similar to correctional officers in other nations. Drug Rehabilitation Police handle the enforcement of isolation and

drug rehabilitation Drug rehabilitation is the process of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and street drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin, and amphetamines. The general int ...

efforts for drug addicts, along with corrective measures for minor offenders. They should not be confused with the judicial police of the courts and procuratorates.

Court Judicial Police

The Court Judicial Police are responsible for the security of People's Courts at the provincial, municipal and township levels. They belong to the judicial system and maintain order and security in

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...

s and assist judges in judicial investigations.

Procuratorate Judicial Police

The Procuratorate Judicial Police are responsible for the security of People's Procuratorates at the provincial, municipal and township levels. They belong to the judicial system and maintain order and security in procuratorates and assist

public procurator A public procurator () is an officer of a state charged with both the investigation and prosecution of crime. The office is a feature of a civil law inquisitorial rather than common law adversarial system. Countries such as Japan, China, Russia, ...

s in judicial investigations.

Oath

Public Security Police

Court Judicial Police

Ranks

The rank system of the People's Police is as follows:

Auxiliary Police

(公安机关警务辅助人员), better known as Auxiliary Police (辅警) are often hired by local public security bureaus. According to the Guangdong provincial government's 2016 "Law on the management of Ministry of Public Security Auxiliary Personnel", article 5 states that they are not part of the People's Police (Meaning they are not Sworn officers) but are instead managed by People's Police personnel. Article 8 of the Guangdong Provincial law on the management of ministry of public security auxiliary personnel states that Auxiliary Duty Officers have the following duties: # Assisting in preventing and stopping crime # Assisting in patrols # Assisting in apprehension, investigation, monitoring and guarding suspects # Assisting protecting order at crime scenes along with evidence and rescuing casualties # Assisting in traffic enforcement and conflict negotiation # Assisting in monitoring drug rehabilitation and confiscation of narcotics # Assisting in protecting jails # Participating in firefighting # Assisting in public relations and promotion of road safety and anti-drug campaigns # Assisting in Police interviews # Driving People's police automobiles, motorcycles, vessels and aircraft # Other duties done by Auxiliary Duty Officers Article 9 states that Auxiliary Civilian Employees have the following duties: # Organization of documents and files, receiving phone calls and other requests # Psychological counseling, website management, data analysis, safety tests, communications maintenance, financial analysis, non-confidential financial management and lab tests. # Management and repairing police equipment # Other duties done by auxiliary civilian employees Article 10 states that Auxiliary Police are prohibited from the following duties: # Work related to national security, technical reconnaissance, Anti-Cult and anti-terrorism # Work related to confidential information # Management of evidence reports and traffic accident responsibility # Conducting correctional duties # Executive duties # Reviewing cases # Owning or using firearms or police equipment # Enforcing the law on their own # Other duties legally assigned to the People's Police The following are not allowed to be auxiliary police, per article 17: # People with a criminal record are of suspected of committed a crime who has not yet been declared innocent or guilty # People who have been placed in jail, juvenile detention, prostitution rehabilitation or with a history of taking drugs # People fired by the Ministry of State Security or their government agency # People whose labor contract terminated due to violating law enforcement related guidelines # People with extremely bad credit history # Other criteria which would prohibit someone from police work

Auxiliary officer ranks

The ranks of auxiliary officers are as follows in

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

province:

References

{{Border guards Law enforcement agencies of China Law enforcement in communist states Ministry of Public Security (China)

Roles

Title

History

Branches

Public Security Police In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

State Security Police

Judicial Administrative Police

Court Judicial Police

Procuratorate Judicial Police

Oath

Public Security Police

Court Judicial Police

Ranks

Auxiliary Police

Auxiliary officer ranks

See also

References