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Beijing to boost

police petrols

BEIJING: More police will patrol Beijing's streets in the face of mounting crime and social problems, local reports said on Wednesday.

An additional 1,000 to 1,500 officers would be recruited to join the Chinese capital's street patrols numbering 3,500, Beijing Public Security Bureau director Zhang Liangji was quoted by the Beijing Daily as saying.

Beijing police started walking street beats in May last year following examples set by Shanghai two years ago and which other cities have copied.

Crime and deliquency are on the rise in China with growing incomes and higher consumerism.

Zhang said police foot patrols in the capital had made 3,390 arrests of criminals and assisted 430,000 people in less than a year of operations, Beijing Daily said.-AFP