THE PUBLIC SECURITY bureau in Zoucheng in East China's Shandong province made a song and dance about its "achievements" on Thursday by parading some suspected criminals in handcuffs and shackles and prison uniforms in the center of the city and making them identify the things they had stolen. Beijing News comments:

Although the police said the activity made people happier and acted as a warning for other wrongdoers, it was highly improper. It is a humiliating public exposure of criminal suspects, which the judicial and public security authorities have long banned.

However, Zoucheng is not alone in staging such kind of public humiliations. Some places in other provinces, such as in Central China's Henan and Hunan provinces, also use such public parades, since they have not invited any censure from the authorities.