Wider use of the Internet is helping tighten the net around criminals on the run.

In the first 10 months of this year, police in Shanghai arrested 3,536 suspects with the help of a nation-wide crime database. Of those arrests, 201 were murder suspects.

Arrests in Shanghai, as released yesterday by the city's Municipal Public Security Bureau, are up 13 percent on last year.

According to police, 1,524 of those arrested in Shanghai were from other provinces, up 41.5 percent over last year.

It is the largest number of people from other provinces arrested in the city since the database was established in 2000.

The country's most wanted list is currently a staggering 300,000 names long, with 4,000 of them wanted for crimes committed in Shanghai.

Ni Yuqi, deputy director of the Command Centre of the Crime Investigation Department under the bureau, attributed the increasing arrests to better Internet access at the various district stations in Shanghai and closer co-operation between police across the country.

This year alone, more than 70 percent of arrested suspects were apprehended by officers not specifically assigned to dealing with their cases.

The Crime Investigation Department consists of 19 teams of officers dispersed over many districts and counties. Because of limited manpower, the department relies on help from other police units.

Police stations and sub-stations are distributed widely across Shanghai to ensure neighbourhood safety. Officers are also stationed at every port of entry.

"Almost all the police stations in Shanghai are equipped with computers so that officers can access the crime database on the Internet," Ni said.

The database can be accessed from almost every station in the city, allowing officers to check people's details to see if they are wanted for crimes in the city or even elsewhere in the country.

"Officers use the database to check the details of everyone who comes to register their temporary residence," Ni said.

For those who still do not have the Internet access, frequently updated discs of the database are distributed.

As Shanghai's migrant population increases, more and more criminals from other places have the opportunity to seek shelter in the city.

"Some of them cause trouble in the city and many of them are arrested," Ni said.

On September 1, the West Nanjing Road Police Station ran the details of a group of people who had been involved in a street dispute through the database.

One of troublemakers, Zou Yulong, was wanted for murder in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province.

Zou was arrested and later confessed to the killing.

(China Daily November 17, 2005)