The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau launched a campaign Wednesday to crack down on rogue security contractors, which have been found to be committing crimes such as illegally intercepting and detaining petitioners.
Zhang Bing, a deputy director of the bureau, told reporters that more than 130 companies and 300,000 security guards make up the capital's security market. Yet, nearly half of these contractors operate without a license, and many of the guards do not have a job certificate.
"The city's security market is in complete chaos. Some companies have been operating outside the law and against regulations, and a few have even allowed their security guards to impede the flow of government work and to participate in illegal activities such as detaining people and setting up black jails, all of which will be covered in the campaign," Zhang said.
In one of the cases, a former security guard and 15 collaborators were arrested in August for running an illegal detention center in Changping district.
They were paid by five provincial and city governments to hold people who came to Beijing to submit petitions to higher authorities, in the name of "maintaining social stability," Zhang revealed.
The police caught all of the suspects and freed the people being confined, but a security guard was beaten to death for trying to persuade his boss to stop his illegal business before the police came.
In another case, the police arrested the chairman and general manager of Anyuanding security company, which is accused of building several black jails in the city. The company also made profits from some local governments by illegally seizing petitioners.
Most of the saved petitioners reported suffering physical abuse.
"We set forth the target of 'zero petition interception' for this campaign in order to warn all companies and staff in this industry to not cross this line," said He Gang, the director of the security and technology prevention management department at the bureau.
All security firms have to apply for a business license by the end of January, and all the security guards have to go through a job test by the end of February, the bureau announced.
The uniform and services of these companies will be regulated. Their cars will be prohibited from bearing police signs, and the bureau will keep records of their recruitment and operations, it said.
However, a private security company named Beijing Huaxingyongzhen Technology Corporation, told the Global Times on Thursday that they are still recruiting guards with no job certificate.
"You can start working first and then take the job test whenever possible … Some of the staff here got the certificate several months after starting work," a recruitment manager surnamed Shi said.
A person without a certificate and with no experience can earn a monthly salary of 1,500 yuan, along with free accommodation and meals, Shi added.
The Global Times found that this company did not provide a business license on its official website.
A contractor called Dongcheng District Security Company, which claims to be tied to the municipal public security bureau and to have 5,000 security guards on its books, told the Global Times that it has been notified about the crackdown.
"Our guards will be told to not make illegal detentions, such as intercepting and blocking petitioners. My company has never done this, but such actions do happen and were done by both licensed and unlicensed companies," the manager of the company, surnamed Hu, told the Global Times.
Yu Jianrong, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the exposed cases of illegal detentions are merely the tip of the iceberg, but he applauded the bureau's campaign as "encouraging."
"That means the government has started to focus on this problem. There has been a chain of interests behind the control of petitioners, involving government officials, security organs and many such contractors," Yu told the Global Times, warning that a short-term campaign was not enough to end the problem.
"Local governments also need to fulfill their obligations and resolve people's petitions," Yu added.
In January, Premier Wen Jiabao visited the State Bureau for Letters and Calls, the top government department dealing with petitions from the public, and heard complaints from rural farmers and migrant workers who come to Beijing decrying illicit home demolitions, unpaid wages and poor injury compensations.
Wen said the government should expand channels for the public to make suggestions and create conditions for the people to criticize and supervise the government.