The pension system for retired policemen in east China's Jiangsu Province has been hailed a success a year after its launch.

Corruption charges against officers have dropped by half, thanks to the scheme.

More than 140,000 policemen have been covered by the system, one-fifth of the province's total police force, said Chen Xu, the Jiangsu Provincial Public Security Bureau's director of the information.

The system would be carried out in the whole province step by step, Huang said.

An officer receives 600 yuan (US$ 72) every month, 7,200 yuan (US$ 867) every year, through the retirement scheme. Each hands in 300 yuan (US$36) each month, the public security bureau gives him 150 yuan (US$ 18) and the government allocates 150 yuan (US$ 18).

Therefore a policeman gets 600 yuan. The money is saved by some departments and the policeman cannot get it before retirement.

If the policeman begins to work at the age of 22, observes all the disciplines and never receives any punishment, he will obtain all the money as an award onetirement, which is about 300,000 yuan (US$36,000).

Dishonesty

However, if the policeman is punished for dishonesty, the money is reduced. If he is dismissed, he will lose all of the money.

Statistics show that from this January to June there were 104 cases filed against offending officers a decrease of 27.3 percent compared with the same period of last year.

Among them, the number of corruption cases decreased 56 percent from the same time last year.

The system is welcomed by both policemen and their relatives.

Nearly all, 99.87 percent, of the police officers in Jiangsu are taking part in the scheme.

"I will get a large amount of money when I am retired in 35 years. I must be very honest in my work to win the money," said a 25-year-old Nanjing policeman, surnamed Zhang.

(China Daily August 26, 2004)