The Chinese police hotline 110 received more than 120 million calls on 3.33 million criminal cases and minor offenses in 2005, which led to the capture of 864,000 suspected criminals, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

"The hotline also received 15.8 million calls requesting help in their daily lives last year. Based on the information, the police has extended possible help to 3.21 million people," an official with the ministry said at a news briefing on the 20 years' development of the hotline.

The help in daily lives offered by the police include getting keys from accidentally locked rooms, sending back lost senior citizens and even capturing a runaway cat from the roof of a house, part of a gesture of the police to serve the public better.

Recently, however, there has been heated debate on stretching out the hotline, which is toll free, too far. Excessive diversification of the tasks of the police force, some argued, will impair its ability to carry out its main missions, namely safeguarding public order and cracking down on crimes.

Police stations in some areas have begun to streamline operations of the hotline.

According to the ministry, the 110 hotline has opened in more than 95 percent of China's 2,862 counties, employing more than 24,000 policemen.

To beef up its response to public demand, the ministry has asked local police stations around the country to integrate existing 110, 119 and 122 hotlines into a unified 110. The number of 119 is for receiving calls reporting fire alarms while 122 is for receiving calls of road accidents and traffic jams.

By the end of 2005, nearly 40 percent of local police stations had responded to the order and combined the three hotlines into one.

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2006)