Hundreds of Chinese policemen stood under the hot sun at a small airport in Beijing Thursday, keenly awaiting a helicopter flying demonstration. Many were having in-depth discussions with people selling the four foreign helicopters displayed on spot.
With China's fast economic and social progress, Chinese police see more and more clearly the necessity of using helicopters to assist them in their work.
Feng Binghui, director of Panyun Branch of Guangzhou Police Bureau said that using helicopters for routine patrols and police action is very necessary, since helicopters have a threatening effect on criminals and can effectively lower the crime rate.
Coming from one of the first cities in China to use helicopters for city security, Feng knows more than most about the advantages of the high-tech equipment.
Feng said that police helicopters have many uses, including routine patrols, tracking criminals, traffic control, and fire and flood prevention.
The Police Bureau of Zhengzhou in Henan Province, which has just ordered two helicopters from a foreign helicopter company, also sent officials to the demonstration.
Asked for the reason for buying helicopters, Fan Hui, an official from the Zhengzhou Police Bureau told one of his unforgettable experiences.
After a bank robbery occurred in Zhengzhou last November, local police immediately identified the bank robber, who later tried to hide himself in a mountain area.
It took Zhengzhou police one week to finally arrest the suspect with 1,000 policemen searching the entire mountain area bit by bit, day and night. "If we had had a helicopter at the time, we would have been able to catch him much more easily," said Fan.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, at the moment there are only ten helicopters used by Chinese police. This is insufficient to meet requirements, and police authorities planned two years ago to double their helicopter numbers in five years.
"In fact, numerous local police authorities have contacted manufacturers, intending to buy their helicopters," said the official.
One official from Taian Police Bureau in Shandong Province said that they are planning to buy a helicopter for fire and flood prevention on Mount Tai, a famous tourist attraction in the province.
With Chinese police forces' increasing annual equipment budget, experts predict that within the next three years, about thirty police helicopters are likely to fly in China's sky.
(People's Daily June 14, 2002)
