Police education and training in China — the case of Zhejiang Police College Police education and training in China — the case of Zhejiang Police College Tao Xu Haiyan Fu China Abstract: This article starts with a brief introduction to the police education and training system in China. Then it points out the challenges facing police education and training from a general viewpoint. The article mainly focuses on how Zhejiang Police College is coping with the challenges through an initiative mechanism of cooperation between colleges and police organisations and through fruitful international cooperation in training and education. Lastly it looks deeper into the possibilities and prospects of further international cooperation to improve the quality of police training and education. Keywords: police training and education; partnership; international cooperation; China–EU programme; Interpol. Education plays a key role in cultivating the best qual- rity of China in December 2015, degree education in ities of police o!cers. However, di"erent countries dif- police colleges and universities plays a fundamental fer greatly in their police education systems. As a key and decisive role in building up a quali#ed police force. form of support for policing work, a relatively complete Not only is degree education the very #rst step in culti- police education and training system with its formed vating quali#ed future police o!cers, it also constitutes experience and methods has been developed in China a very important part of policing a"airs in China (Teng since the founding of the People’s Republic of China Yinhou, Peng Zhengdong, 2016). in 1949. This essay intends to probe the changes that have taken place in the police education system in Accordingly, this article mainly concentrates on police China and discuss the prospects of police education education and training in police colleges and universi- by focusing on the current practices of Zhejiang Police ties. Similar to the dual system in the Netherlands, Chi- College. nese police colleges and universities provide both de- gree education for enrolled high school graduates and training for in-service police o!cers. There are now 25 1. A brief introduction to the police police colleges and universities nationwide (Teng Yin- education system in China hou, Peng Zhengdong, 2016), the di"erences among which are as follows. In China, the institutions responsible for police educa- tion and training fall into two categories: police univer- Among all 25 police colleges and universities there are sities or colleges providing a degree education; and only #ve that are under the direct control of the Minis- police training schools or centres for in-service o!cers. try of Public Security (Teng Yinhou, Peng Zhengdong, According to the o!cial document released jointly by 2016). The other 20 are under the control of local pro- six ministries, including the Ministry of Public Security vincial governments. In almost every province in China and the Ministry of Human Resource and Social Secu- there is one police college at provincial level. 101 European Police Science and Research Bulletin · Global trends in law enforcement training and education As stated above, all colleges and universities provide there was a huge debate about whether the police both degree education and in-service training. The colleges and universities should be changed to police di"erence is that the #ve police colleges and univer- training schools, which is the opposite to a shift from sities under the direct control of the Ministry of Public police training to education in the United States (Craig Security o"er a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or Paterson, 2011). It was not until recent years that schol- doctoral degree. But only a few police colleges at pro- ars agreed that both police education for degrees and vincial level are quali#ed to o"er a master’s degree or police training are indispensable components in build- higher. What is more, students graduating from provin- ing up quali#ed and capable police o!cers. However, cial police colleges and universities will usually be sent how police education and police training can be in- back to their hometown police bureau to start their tegrated, motivating each other and contributing to a career at the local police station, the lowest level of the more comprehensive police education system remain police structure. to be explored. As for in-service training, most professional training sessions for high-ranking police o!cers in service are 3. A case analysis based on Zhejiang provided by police colleges and universities under the Police College direct control of the Ministry of Public Security. Pro- vincial colleges and universities, on the other hand, 3.1. A brief introduction to Zhejiang Police provide all kinds of short-term, in-service training to College o!cers of di"erent ranks, including police supervisors Zhejiang Police College is located in Hangzhou, which and senior police o!cers. is renowned for the beauty of the West Lake and the hills around it. The predecessor of Zhejiang Police Col- lege is the Training Class for Hangzhou Public Security 2. Challenges facing practitioners in Sta", which was established on 26 May 1949. In January police education 1950, Zhejiang Provincial School for Public Security Cad- res was founded. In 1985, with the approval of the pro- Great changes have taken place in relation to police vincial government, it was renamed the Zhejiang Public education under the police reform guidelines in China. Security Vocational School and started its associate de- Not only has the number of police o!cers increased, gree education. In March 2007 the Ministry of Education but also their quali#cations have been improving. permission for the college to be upgraded to a college Currently in China there are about 1.8 million police of undergraduate education and named Zhejiang Police o!cers in service ( 1), many of whom graduated from College. It has outstanding facilities in its two campuses police colleges or universities. However, there are a at Binjiang and Lin’an. Zhejiang Police College now has number of key issues under heated discussion, one of around 500 faculty members, and has 4 000 cadets and which is the question of whether police education or trains about 8 000 on-the-job police o!cers per year. police training is more important. Zhejiang Police College o"ers 11 undergraduate major subjects for cadets, such as criminal investigation, foren- Before 2004 in China there was much more emphasis sic science, public order management, tra!c control, on police education than on police training. Howev- law, computer science and technology, investigation of er, the problems were quite obvious from two major economic crimes, international police cooperation, po- perspectives. On the one hand, graduates from police lice command and tactics, law enforcement on internet colleges and universities were in desperate need of security, etc. Zhejiang Police College is also a national practice and experience. On the other hand, in-ser- training base for new police chiefs at the county level, a vice police o!cers were not provided with su!cient police #eld-training base of the Ministry of Public Securi- chances to pursue further study and training in police ty (MPS), a sci-tech and information technology training colleges and universities (Yang Hede, 2007). However, base of the MPS and an organiser of China–EU Police for a long period of time since 2004, the importance of Training Programme of the MPS (ZJPC, 2016). police training has been overemphasised. Around 2010 Even with the overload of pressure, occupational jeop- (1) The total number of in-service police o!cers is released in an ardy, etc., a career with the police is still quite attractive online government report (http://search.10jqka.com.cn/snap- shot/news/6854"c5527763f1.html). to the young generation in China. As a result, admis- 102 Police education and training in China — the case of Zhejiang Police College sion to these police institutions is extremely competi- 3.2.1.2. Distributing juniors to do their internship in tive. In the case of Zhejiang Police College, every year the police departments there are many talented candidates who need pass a It is said that experience is the best teacher. Zhejiang very strict background check, psychological test, phys- Police College implements a ‘3+1’ plan, during which ical test, face-to-face interview and national college the cadets are distributed to police departments at dif- entrance examination. Most of the successful candi- ferent levels to do their internship in their third year. dates are eligible for the top universities and colleges In this way the students are provided with chances to in China. apply what they have learned to the real situation. 3.2. Analysis of police training and education in 3.2.2. International police training and education of Zhejiang Police College Zhejiang Police College In its more than 60-year history Zhejiang Police College In response to ongoing policing reform in China, Zhe- has cultivated over 20 000 police o!cers for Zhejiang jiang Police College, along with all the other police Province and Tibet Autonomous Region, and has trained universities and colleges nationwide, devotes itself over 100 000 in-service police o!cers from all over the entirely to innovation in police education and training. country. Many of them have become team leaders and Within that sphere, police education and training on directors in the police agency at di"erent levels. international police cooperation are playing an increas- ingly large role. 3.2.1. A mechanism of partnership between the police college and police departments Nowadays, with global integration, all nations in the There are 16 police departments in Zhejiang Province world not only share interests, but also share safety and that have cooperative partnerships with Zhejiang Po- risk concerns.