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From NetEase:
Yanzhou Traffic Police: Making an Online Post Denouncing the Police Should be Punished
Due to making an internet post criticizing traffic police for a ticket, 21-year-old Cao XX was given 5 days of administrative detention. The police microblog released this information to remind netizens to not say whatever they please anonymously on the internet, and that violations of the law must be punished. This microblog message aroused controversy.
@兖州公安, the official microblog account of the Shandong province Jining city Yanzhou county municipal public security bureau posted an message today: On May 4th, the Yanzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau Internet Security Squad gave 5 days of administrative detention in accordance with the law to a person who had illegally made a post on the internet insulting the traffic police.
According to the microblog of @兖州公安, Cao XX, male, 21 years old, from Yanzhou district Yandian town, at around 4pm on 2014 April 28, had illegally parked his car at Zhongyu Bridge North Road and was issued an “Illegal Parking Citation” by the traffic police squad.
Afterwards, Cao XX used the online nickname “兖州存哥” to make an internet post on the Baidu Yanzhou Tieba [Post Bar], “Fucking great, I just parked and already got a citation. The traffic police in Yanzhou are cowards.”
This act was very quickly discovered by the Yanzhou Public Security Bureau Internet Squad, who believed “Cao XX not only wasn’t repentant but also venting personal spite on the internet”, “publicly insulting the People’s police, causing a negative social influence.”
May 4th, the Internet Security Squad administratively detained Cao XX, with the @兖州公安 microblog account claiming that Cao XX has at present been administratively detained for five days.
The Yanzhou Public Security Bureau also reminded people that “the net of the law is vast and while it is loose, it will not allow [criminals] to escape, so don’t mistakenly believe that you can anonymously say whatever you want on the internet thinking it is no big deal, and instead believe that ‘if you don’t want people to know, the only way is to not do it’. If you violate the law, you will definitely suffer the law’s punishment.”
This microblog post aroused online controversy. Netizens criticized the police for being inhuman in their enforcement of the law, punishing people as they please and too harshly, and that this kind of law enforcement is indeed “cowardly”. This afternoon, @兖州公安 has already deleted the relevant microblog post. However, neither the Yanzhou Public Security Bureau nor the Internet Security Squad have made any further responses on the matter of the detained individual.
A representative for the Yanzhou Traffic Police Squad expressed during a media interview that Cao XX insulted the police in a public setting, that the police are representatives of the law, and thus this is behavior in contempt of the law and should be lawfully punished.
First of all, he believes Cao XX’s accusation is unreasonable: “Normally, when the driver is present, we won’t issue a citation, but instead tell him that he has parked in violation and have him move the car. Only when the driver is not present will we leave a ticket on the car parked in violation.” Because of this, he believes Cao XX very unlikely “just parked and already got a citation.”
He admits that the grumbling of car owners who have been punished for illegal parking is understandable. That’s why if they are yelled at face-to-face, traffic police will usually exercise patience. However, posting on Baidu Tieba [Post Bar] after the incident is considered a public situation, and of a malicious nature. “It isn’t just police, no one regardless of who they are should be cursed like this.”
In response to questions about the judgement [administrative detention] being law enforcement going too far, he stressed that the public security bureau always operates in a lawful manner these days [unlike perhaps in the past].
According to “Law on Public Security Administrative Punishments” regulations, those publicly insulting others or fabricating facts to slander others can be punished with no more than five days of detention or a fine of no more than five hundred yuan; for more severe incidents, one can be detained for five to ten days, in addition to a fine of no more than five hundred yuan. When it comes to insulting a member of the People’s police, there is Article 35 of the “People’s Police Law” which stipulates that the Public Security Administrative Punishments Law applies to publicly insulting a police officer in the course of his duties.
Source: Southern Metropolis Daily, the official microblog of the Yanzhou Public Security Bureau, etc.
Comments from NetEase (1 and 2):
撒旦也流泪 [网易湖北省襄阳市手机网友]：
A police officer can represent the country’s law? A police officer is a person. Can a person represent the country? Don’t you think the power you people [government] have given police officers is too much?
网易宁夏银川市手机网友 ip：61.243.*.*:
Who is in contempt of the law?
网易广东省深圳市手机网友 ip：183.49.*.*:
Police officers are the law?
网易辽宁省锦州市手机网友 ip：123.187.*.*:
You are the law? Talk about ridiculous.
网易黑龙江省哈尔滨市手机网友 ip：113.0.*.*:
I resolutely disagree with you people saying “Yanzhou traffic police are cowards”, because how can something like “Yanzhou traffic police are cowards” be so casually said? First of all, “Yanzhou traffic police are cowards” is simply fabricated slander. Second, even if you believe “Yanzhou traffic police are cowards”, you shouldn’t write “Yanzhou traffic police are cowards” on the internet, because if you write “Yanzhou traffic police are cowards” everywhere, everyone will actually believe “Yanzhou traffic police are cowards”. Look at me, I don’t casually write online “Yanzhou traffic police are cowards”.
网易江苏省南京市手机网友 ip：112.80.*.*:
Police cannot represent the law. Police must also operate in accordance with the law. If the police represent the law, then it would be rule by man, not rule of law! The popular saying goes that a police officer cannot say to the suspect while enforcing the law: I am the law!
网易加拿大手机网友 网易加拿大手机网友 ip：198.50.*.*:
Inscribed at the entrance to Germany’s Dachau Concentration Camp is the famous cautionary words of a 17th century poet: “When a regime begins burning books, if it is not stopped, its next step is to burn people! When a regime begins prohibiting speech, if it is not stopped, its next step is to kill people to prevent them from speaking!”
Edmund Burke once said: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
坚持我的道德 [网易广东省深圳市手机网友]：
It seems like even if you feel this is an insult, you still have to first file a lawsuit [before someone can be punished].
网易江苏省连云港市手机网友 ip：114.237.*.*:
This goes too far, don’t you think? Does this count as abuse of power?
东土无净土 [网易江苏省无锡市手机网友]：
Administrative detention in accordance with the law? In accordance with what TM law?
de56000cbc326227f321290d [网易四川省宜宾市手机网友]：
I’ve seen government officials curse/insult people, but how come I’ve never seen anything happen to them?
网易浙江省绍兴市手机网友 ip：115.224.*.*:
Nowadays the law is about what a minority says, don’t you know?
我家没有水表电表也在外面 [网易新疆乌鲁木齐市手机网友]：
What can be said? If you don’t work hard, you’ll spend your entire life in the mainland.
网易江西省九江市手机网友 ip：59.54.*.*:
The FBI arrested someone who said Obama is “cowardly” online, and expressed: Obama is the President of the United States, the symbol of the country, so insulting him is insulting the country. The net of the law is vast and while it is loose, it will not allow [criminals] to escape, so don’t mistakenly believe that you can anonymously say whatever you want on the internet thinking it is no big deal!
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