China's national police force will undergo large-scale re-deployment that will see many of its administrative officers assigned to protect local communities, both rural and urban.

The Ministry of Public Security said that at least one police officer will be assigned to all urban neighborhoods and that most rural villages will now benefit from their own police station.

Currently, many urban districts only have one police station and numerous villages or communities in the vast countryside have no resident police officer or station. The notice added that the number of police will increase further in urban areas with higher crime rates.

As nearly half of the country's police force is made up of administrative officers, the ministry has vowed to deploy more of them to communities, to increase access to policemen by residents in need. The notice did not indicate how many officers might be involved in the re-assignment. China's national police force has 490,000 members. Walking the beat involves police mainly patrolling communities, investigating crime and undertaking community research, it said.

All officers, previously attached to administrative duty, that are re-assigned to specific community or rural police stations will receive further training once deployed to their new positions.

Police who are sent to remote villages will be given a subsidy if their spouse goes with them. The ministry also suggested that new police stations be built near community or village offices to help forge closer ties with local authorities.

(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2006)