BEIJING: With the nature of police work in China changing as technology plays a bigger role in criminal investigations, legal professionals are calling for more training for forensic and high-tech talent.
Ji Chunwei, a criminal lawyer from Guangdong province who used to be a policeman, said the number of labs or centers for studying and applying technology in criminal investigations has risen over the past five years.
“Chinese police have realized the importance of applying technology in cracking criminal cases and have also shown their willingness to brush up on the latest technologies,” said Ji, who was a police officer from 2000 to 2014.
He said most public security bureaus, including the one he worked for, used to be more focused on clues such as fingerprints and footprints during investigations. However, “now they have begun using more big data and video surveillance as electronic evidence.”
“In the past decade, what police mainly did was collect people’s biological information,” Ji said.
“Now that collection is working effectively.”
For example, a man surnamed Ma who is suspected of raping and killing a college student 28 years ago was caught by police in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, in February, thanks to the application of DNA comparison.
Another two high-profile arrests in recent years are also good examples of how technology could lead to breakthroughs in criminal investigations, according to Ji.
On Nov 28, after two decades on the run, Lao Rongzhi, a female fugitive suspected of being involved in the killings of seven people, was arrested by police in Xiamen, Fujian province.
Beijing News reported she was found as a result of big data analysis and admitted her true identity when police showed her the results of a DNA test.
– The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item
