Shanghai police offer diverse services to locals

At six police stations in Shanghai, residents can now apply for new copies of their car plates and driving licenses without going to the traffic police.

Enabled by data-sharing between police departments, this measure saves residents time and trouble as there are only one or two traffic police offices in each district.

At Gucun Police Station in Baoshan District, a taxi driver surnamed Wang was one of the beneficiaries of the new measure yesterday morning. He came to pay fine for his traffic offenses. "Otherwise I would have to go to the traffic police who are an hour away from me," he said. Here, he paid the fine within about 20 minutes.

Residents can now also apply for new passports at the six police stations, which formerly could only be done at the exit-entry police offices. More multipurpose stations will be added, with 45 already being prepared.

Zhang Hua, head of the Gucun Police Station, said demand for the extra services was strong.

"The most popular is our new traffic fine payment function," he said. "About 350 people come to pay the fine every day, which accounts for two-thirds of our all procedures handled daily."

Police say they will continue to streamline services.

Besides the police stations, subdistrict and community administrative affairs centers will also be able to take up some police work to help residents.

The trial at two community centers at Hongqiao and Maqiao towns in Minhang District has been popular, with 24,000 people using the services so far to deal with exit-entry, traffic and household registration issues.