Lifetime liability for Henan police officers

Police officers in Central China's Henan Province will be held responsible for their wrongdoings no matter how long ago the misconduct took place or whether they are still on the force, the China Police Daily, a Beijing-based newspaper directly under the Ministry of Public Security, reported on Tuesday.

An anonymous source from the Public Security Department in Henan Province confirmed to the Global Times on Wednesday that the new regulation, which establishes a lifetime liability system for police officers in Henan, will be implemented on Thursday.

Several other cities in China, including Pingdu in Shandong Province, Tieling in Liaoning Province, Changchun in Jilin Province and Qinzhou in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, have also initiated a policy of lifetime liability.

"This policy binds police officers to a lifetime of responsibility, which helps to curb misconduct and wrongful convictions from the beginning," Chen Xiangdong, a professor with the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times, adding that the liability system will likely be extended to judges and prosecutors in the future.

The new regulation came after several wrongly-convicted cases captured national attention this year.

Zhang Gaoping and Zhang Hui, an uncle and nephew from Zhejiang Province, were cleared of all charges in March this year after serving nearly 10 years in prison. They were convicted of rape and murder in 2004 after giving ride to a girl who was later found dead.

The two plan to sue the local prosecutor's office after learning that none of the police officers or prosecutors who processed their case will be held responsible for their wrongful conviction. "They convicted us without evidence and I cannot forgive that. There should be laws prohibiting such convictions," Zhao Gaoping told the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News.

Zhang Jianwei, a law professor with Tsinghua University, agreed. "The policy will pressure police officers into behaving," Zhang told the Global Times, "but one should be careful when implementing the rules since over-exerting them could hurt morale."