A senior Chinese police official said 409 policemen lost their lives and 4,078 were injured in operations to protect the interests of the state and people in 2005.

"In 2005, Chinese public security organs cracked more than 2 million criminal cases and handled more than 5.3 million public order disturbances," said Zhu Chunlin, head of the discipline supervision department of the Ministry of Public Security.

At a meeting with specially invited external supervisors of the police force, Zhu said the 1.7 million policemen of the country have made selfless contributions to social stability at the risk of their lives.

He acknowledged that there were also black sheep within the police force.

"Initial statistics show 436 police officials were punished for corrupt behaviors and 353 policemen were removed from the police force in 2005," he said.

Source: Xinhua