Beware of Sexual Harassment on Public Transportation

During the summer season, girls love wearing short shorts and skirts because it’s SO hot! Often times, women are criticized for this ‘unwanted attention’ from men. 

“Why can’t women cover up as to not tempt men?”

“If they didn’t wear that then they wouldn’t get raped”

“Those outfits encourage men”

This is outrageous! Luckily, Chinese officials think so too!

At the beginning of 2018, the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau dispatched numerous undercover police. These policemen were passengers at local subway stations and on subways with the sole purpose of protecting citizens.

What did they do?

▷ During peak subway hours, think rush-hours in the morning and evening and late night hours, undercover police would patrol stations and subway carts. They were looking for suspicious and abnormal behavior including men following women. They began stopping them for questioning.

▷ They would gather as much evidence as available, analyze the main areas where such harassment are more likely to happen, build an understanding of key targets’ activities, and eventually move forward with precise strikes.

▷ Encourage the police to provide intelligence and help with arrests.

The Public Security Bureau discussed 2 particular important cases.

Undercover police officers in the Luohu District of Shenzhen were following a suspect named Mr. Luo. He inappropriately touched a woman’s leg as he walked onto the subway train. The officers arrested him and gave him a sentence of 5 days of administrative detention after he confessed his crime.

Mr. Luo caught touching a woman’s leg.

Mr. Luo arrested by the police.

Another suspect named Mr. Xiao was arrested by the police after being caught upskirting a woman commuter. Upskirting is the act of taking a photo underneath a women's skirt without permission. Mr. Xiao was quickly apprehended and given the same sentence as Mr. Luo.

What to do when you encounter this kind of situation?

Police forces would like to take this opportunity to remind all passengers to remain vigilant at all times. Should you ever face similar problems or witness someone behaving inappropriately towards other passengers, call the police immediately. Provide a description of the suspect and any other clues that could help police locate this person. In the meantime, police continue to work on preventing these acts to keep women all passengers safe on public transportation.

Police advise that if you see a perpetrator shooting a video or picture of someone without their knowledge or consent that it is better to not directly approach the suspect but to alert those around you. Alerting them may vary based on the surrounding activity, touching their shoulder or using hand motions to help identify the suspect and their act.

By alerting the suspect, it could cause unnecessary disputes resulting in injuries.

Either yourself or one of the passengers you’ve alerted around should call the police via text or phone. Advising them of locations can help police to wait for their transport arrival and handle the situation properly.

There are many police actively working on cracking down on these illegal acts. In addition, it’s necessary that we are all aware of passengers to protect ourselves and those around us. Being knowledgeable about how we should react and face these situations will help protect everyone and bring these suspects to justice.

Editor: Crystal Huang

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