Serial killings in Henan highlight police ineptness

The first boy disappeared in March 2001, then others went missing, all teenage boys, all regulars at the Internet cafes near the schools.

Suspicious parents went to the police, who were not impressed. Maybe, the police said, the boys ran away.

Two years later, boys were still disappearing in this depressing city in Henan Province. Xu Yinping's son vanished in March, and the police gave her excuses, too. At one point, Xu and other parents said, a pair of severed hands was discovered at an Internet cafe. The killer appeared to be taunting the police.

Then last month, a terrified teenager, saying he had been tortured, led officers to the home of a 29-year-old man. There, they found the buried remains of at least 14 other boys. In all, state news media reported, the suspect is believed to have killed 17 boys.

"They are irresponsible," Xu said of the local police. "They were playing games with the kids' lives. We want an explanation."

In China, where officials boast about the country's low crime rate, last month saw an unusual glut of bizarre and gruesome crimes, with newspapers filled with sordid details about the arrests of three suspected serial killers. But the Henan case also touches on what experts say is an ingrained problem, particularly in rural China: bad and corrupted policing.

Part of the problem is the nature of policing in a nondemocratic country. Historically, experts say, officers have emphasized maintaining government control and serving as the eyes and ears of the state over solving crimes. But as top leaders speak of China becoming a nation under the rule of law, experts say such an approach must change.

"If China is going to develop the rule of law, the police are going to have to become better at doing basic, nonpolitical, everyday, investigative police work," said Murray Scot Tanner, a senior political scientist with the RAND Corp who has an expertise in criminal justice in China.

"It has only been in the past decade that China has really made a genuine effort to impose modern, investigative skills of policing," Tanner said.

Public anger seems to be growing, particularly as increasingly aggressive Chinese news organizations have chronicled police beatings and killings. The Henan serial killings sparked anger on the nation's popular Internet sites, Sina.com and Xinhua News Online.

"These crimes would not have occurred if the local officials paid more attention to improving social security and management," wrote one online critic. "They should all resign."

Another added: "Police are a waste of our taxes."

Officials at the Ministry of Public Security apparently recognize the depth of public concern. The ministry recently issued new rules establishing for the first time that evidence obtained by torture, threats or other illegal means cannot be used in court cases.

It also has begun a program to crack down on illegal detentions of suspects.

One man was held without charges for 10 years because the police could not gather enough evidence to take him to court.

Here in Pingyu, five officials, including the head of the local public security bureau, were fired late last month for their negligence in the serial killings, state media reported. The police refused several requests for interviews.

The suspect, Huang Yong, 29, was arrested Nov. 12 and is tentatively scheduled for trial today. Huang has reportedly confessed to the murders.

During a visit to Pingyu a few days after the arrest, the police appeared to be everywhere, leaning against motorcycles, idling in patrol cars, pedaling on bicycles. But the heightened presence did little to assuage the parents of the dead boys. In fact, three parents say they themselves were under surveillance because officers did not want them talking to the Chinese reporters swarming into town.

Xu said her 16-year-old son, Huo Honglei, disappeared in March at an Internet cafe. She spent more than a week checking for him with friends and family. She visited the cafe and remembered a strange conversation with a man who now turns out to be the suspect. She then reported the case to the police.

"The police said, `It doesn't matter,"' she recalled. "`Kids want to see the temptations of the world a little bit. Wait for a while, and he will come back."'

One father, Lu Dequan, said an officer at the local police yelled at him when he asked that his son's disappearance be investigated.

"You shouldn't come here for your missing kid," Lu said the officer told him. "This is not a business within our responsibility."

Other parents said they have encountered the same problem. Zhang Fulin, 44, said his son, Kunlun, 18, also disappeared in March. He said he and his wife, Li Xiaoxian, were told that officers would look at the case but that the parents should keep looking for their son.

That same month, parents say the two severed human hands were discovered at an Internet cafe. By the fall, the parents had coalesced into an informal group and decided to travel to Beijing to make a formal complaint with the central government. Instead, officials from Zhumadian, the city with jurisdiction over Pingyu, intercepted them and promised a vigorous investigation if they returned without filing a complaint. The parents agreed.

"Local problems should be resolved locally," said Zhang Mingkuan, the official who persuaded the parents to return, in a telephone interview.

But parents say an aggressive investigation never materialized, and four other youths disappeared as time passed. Only luck led to an arrest when the 18th victim escaped.

Parents say the aftermath of the case has brought more anxiety. Officials moved some parents into a guest house, apparently to isolate them. Lu said parents who lived in small villages outside Pingyu were not allowed to leave even to go to the market.

"The government is not comforting us," Zhang said. "Instead, they are controlling us. All the families have no way to speak out."

By early this month, Xu said, the local government had paid her about US$1,200. But she was still very frustrated. The bodies of the boys were cremated, but she said she was not given the results of a DNA test to prove her son was definitively among them. She has also has not been given a copy of a death report. Finally, she wants something that she has not gotten since her son disappeared in March.

"I want an explanation," she said.