(Photo/Beijing Youth Daily)

The number of registered public security volunteers in Beijing has exceeded 850,000, the capital's committee for comprehensive management of public security announced at a press conference on July 11.

Since the volunteer association was established to support public security work ten years ago, it has assisted public security organs in providing security for many major events in Beijing, including the Olympics, the APEC summit, and the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

Zhang Wei, an official at Beijing's public security bureau, stressed the prominent role of security guards and auxiliary police officers in public security work. “Security guard teams report at least 20,000 crime tips, help police arrest about 60,000 suspects, and crack about 16,000 cases each year in Beijing, on average, retrieving economic losses of 150 million RMB. Auxiliary police provide security at about 3,000 major events each year,” he said.

The tipoff app Chaoyang Qunzhong jointly developed by Chaoyang police and the public security management committee was officially launched at the end of March this year in a bid to better connect police and ordinary citizens. One month later, number of registered users exceeded 60,000 and 2,000 reports were received. Named after Chaoyang District residents, the app is nicknamed as the “fifth largest intelligence agency” in the world by China's internet users.

In recent years, many new groups have emerged in Beijing, for instance, Xicheng Dama, Haidian Netizens, Fengtai Persuasion Team, Dongcheng Watch Post, and Daxing Old Neighbors, all of which have significantly improved the capital's public security work.