Guangdong police have pledged to make more use of helicopters in the future to tackle crime.

Zhu Suisheng, deputy director of Guangdong Provincial Department of Public Security, said his department would try to introduce a more efficient system to authorize the use of helicopters this year.

Public security departments in cities across the province can apply to use police helicopters from the provincial department when they are needed, Zhu told a police aviation work conference in Guangdong's city of Foshan recently.

But the departments currently have to go through complicated and time-consuming procedures before they are given the green-light to use them.

Zhu also urged relevant police departments to fully understand the importance police helicopters can play in fighting crime.

"Police helicopter teams should also expand their co-operation with ground and marine police forces to further improve their effectiveness," he said.

Zhu refused to reveal how many helicopters Guangdong police owned at present.

But the province would purchase more helicopters from both home and abroad if they were needed, he said.

Residents in the province have welcomed the developments.

Lu Changjun, a private business owner, said the wider use of police helicopters would help bring down Guangdong's crime rate, which is believed to be one of the highest on the Chinese mainland.

He said he believed helicopters can be used to pursue runaway suspects and monitor their escape routes.

The provincial Department of Public Security established its first police flying fleet in 2002, when it acquired two European made helicopters.

Shenzhen police bought an Italian made helicopter in July 2004.

Huizhou Municipal Bureau of Public Security in the Pearl River Delta is currently preparing to establish its own fleet.

Helicopters are playing an increasingly important role in fighting crime in Guangdong Province, which borders Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

The province has many forest areas, and the country's longest coastline and river network.

Two police helicopters from the provincial Department of Public Security successfully co-operated with ground and marine police forces to bust a major counterfeit cigarette production base on a boat off Guangzhou's Panyu District in December 2004.

Twenty-two suspects were detained, and production equipment and fake cigarettes were seized.

Guangzhou police also used a helicopter to successfully capture two robbery suspects who escaped to a forest area in the previous year.

The Ministry of Public Security has previously highly praised the role of Guangdong's police helicopters in fighting crime.

(China Daily May 15, 2006)