Two foreign tourists ask for directions from a police officer on Aug 9, 2008.[Photo/IC]

A woman from?Xiangcheng county in Central China's Henan province has been single-handedly tracking down five people who she witnessed attacking and killing her husband 17 years ago. Her efforts have resulted in four of them being arrested recently. Her story has provoked justified public criticism, says Beijing Youth Daily:

The police are not always as inefficient as this. For example, they help locate lost computers for celebrities and recover the stolen bicycles of foreigners. However, when an ordinary person was murdered, the police refused to launch an investigation and the victim's wife had to risk her life pursuing the suspected killers.

This has inevitably resulted in people accusing the police of dedicating themselves to protecting the social elite and caring less about the safety of ordinary residents. Being so selective about the cases they tackle fails to live up to the trust taxpayers place in the police and ruins the credibility of those whose duty is to protect and serve.

It is worth reflection why the police were unable to track down the suspects when the woman was able to do so. This is outrageous since it was reported that the local police office became an unwitting accomplice by issuing an ID card for one of the suspects.

Local police should bear in mind they serve the people and apply themselves to putting this into practice. How many more cases have remained unsolved because the police have failed to do their duty?