China's courts convicted 178 police officers on criminal charges last year, said a senior official of the Ministry of Public Security on Thursday.

Zhu Chunlin, secretary of the ministry's Commission for Discipline Inspection, told a meeting on corruption that officials had uncovered 4,442 cases of violations of administrative and Communist Party discipline.

He said the cases included extorting confessions by torture, gun abuse and misuse of other police instruments, taking bribes, and government procurement irregularities.

The cases involved 5,942 officers, including 3,044 who received administrative penalties and 858 who were penalized under Communist Party of China rules.

He said the number of cases was 8.4 percent down from 2005.

The ministry dispatched 10 supervision groups to grass-roots units to enhance the supervision and inspection of regular police work.

This year, public security departments are required to further improve their operations and continue the crackdown on corruption.

Source: Xinhua