Chapter 15 Chapter 13 Beware of the "Law Enforcement Industry"

If law enforcement is "economized" or "industrialized," it means that public rights serving public welfare have undergone a transformation. Li Guobin, a citizen of Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, sued him in court because he was dissatisfied with the city traffic team's "speeding fine" administrative penalty decision. On May 15, 2007, the "little lawsuit" caused by a fine of 500 yuan came to an end. After the trial, the People's Court of Beihu District, Chenzhou City ruled that Li Guobin won the case in court, and revoked the decision of the Chenzhou Traffic Team to punish Li Guobin.

It is understood that on a section of high-grade highway less than 25 kilometers in Chenzhou, the traffic law enforcement department has set up as many as 40 speed limit signs and radar speed detection signs, and some sections even have a speed limit of 20 kilometers.Thousands of drivers have been fined on this stretch of road due to the low speed limit.It even happened that the same vehicle was fined for speeding by three traffic police brigades within one hour. The reporter's investigation found that the phenomenon of fines and excessive fees in the name of law enforcement has existed to varying degrees in various parts of the country in recent years.Some people vividly refer to it as the "law enforcement industry".

Relevant experts interviewed believe that the so-called "law enforcement industry" has severely eroded the foundation of a society ruled by law. The country should establish a more sound financial order on the basis of building a power supervision mechanism at the institutional level and changing the concept of law enforcement. Curb the proliferation of this "law enforcement industry". In February 2006, the Public Security Bureau of Gongzhuling City, Jilin Province implemented a performance appraisal system.The bureau stipulates: 10% of the fine will be returned to the individual as a bonus, and 20% will be returned to the grassroots unit that enforces the fine;

This system of high rewards plus final elimination has triggered a competition for law enforcement and fines among the police. In 2006, the Gongzhuling City Public Security Bureau’s fine income was as high as more than 16 million yuan, and the fines of the traffic police alone amounted to more than 11 million yuan.The finance department returned all the fines and confiscations, and the bureau took out more than 1.1 million yuan as a fine bonus. More than 50 front-line traffic police officers averaged 20,000 yuan, and those who fined the most received more than 50,000 yuan. Professor Li Chengyan, a doctoral supervisor at the School of Government and Administration of Peking University, said in an interview: "Increasing unit and individual 'income' through law enforcement is essentially reducing public power to a tool for departments and individuals to seek interests. Law enforcement officers represent the country and the The government exercises law enforcement power, and if law enforcement is 'economized' or 'industrialized', it means that public power serving public welfare has undergone a transformation."

In recent years, there have been numerous phenomena of "generating income" in the name of law enforcement.For example, the administrative personnel of the Fair Trade Bureau of the Industry and Commerce Bureau of a certain county in Jiangxi publicly called for prices, charged so-called "market service fees" and "market consulting fees" from fertilizer production and sales companies, and gave the green light to the entry of inferior fertilizers into the market, and promised to "exempt from inspection" ", which became the "protective umbrella" for inferior chemical fertilizers; the industrial and commercial bureau of a certain county in Shaanxi has repeatedly intercepted and fined trucks entering the country at expressway toll stations on the grounds that the goods have quality problems. And without any proof.

Why is the so-called law enforcement industry repeatedly prohibited?After an in-depth investigation, the reporter found that, in addition to the weak enforcement of the law, the main reason is that law enforcement is linked to interests. "The existence of extra-budgetary funds is the main root of the law enforcement industry." Li Chengyan pointed out that "extra-budgetary funds are a unique fiscal phenomenon in my country. Various fees, fines, and funds that exist outside the government budget Tax revenue has grown rapidly driven by departmental interests. For example, administrative fees outside the national budget have soared from 6.341 billion yuan in 1978 to 333.574 billion yuan in 2003, an increase of 51.6 times in 25 years.”

In fact, my country's extra-budgetary funds and state budget revenue have maintained a "neck and neck" trend for many years.So, how much extrabudgetary funds are there?According to relevant experts, extra-budgetary funds are mainly composed of four parts: one is the various charges of government departments at all levels, which was about 1 trillion yuan in 2006; the other is social security funds, which is about 800 billion to 900 billion yuan nationwide; The third is the land transfer fees of local governments, which is about 1 trillion yuan; the fourth is the dividends from state-owned assets and the profits of state-owned enterprises, which is about 1 trillion yuan.

Adding these four items together, the total extra-budgetary revenue of the country in 2006 was comparable to the national fiscal revenue of 3.9 trillion yuan, and the various fees charged by government departments at all levels accounted for more than a quarter of the total extra-budgetary revenue. "The original intention of extra-budgetary funds is to allow some departments to make up for the lack of administrative funds through the collection of administrative fees by the state." , fines, charges, and excessive power to dispose of collected management fees and fines, and these powers cannot be effectively supervised and controlled, which has caused some law enforcement agencies or law enforcement personnel to get out of hand and regard law enforcement as a Normal profit-making ways of working, thereby distorting administrative goals.”

"Under the current financial system, when administrative, law enforcement and judicial agencies set up and increase personnel, for quite a few agencies, the financial allocation is not full, but only for 'policies' that facilitate income generation." A staff member of a law enforcement department in Beijing Reluctantly said, "Because of the existence of this pair of contradictions, many units have to rely on fines and other means to raise wages and bonuses." The reporter's investigation found that even in those places where revenue and expenditure are separated, fines are returned to law enforcement agencies in proportion, which is also a "hidden rule" of local finance.It is precisely because of this unreasonable hook-and-return system that law enforcement agencies and relevant staff can easily turn law enforcement into a cash machine for departmental interests.

In some places in our country, because the benefits brought by income generation are usually returned layer by layer, many illegal income-generating behaviors can basically pass under the protection of relevant departments.This also objectively results in the low-cost, low-risk, and high-return characteristics of the "law enforcement industry". Some departments have indeed achieved the goal of "making a fortune" through law enforcement. In 2004, the traffic police in a certain county in Chongqing took the lead in building a very eye-catching villa area for themselves through law enforcement, and called it the county's "No. 1 Villa Area ". In 2006, in a county in Shanxi that is a state-level poverty-stricken county, the county’s procuratorate actually built a luxurious office with a cost of nearly 10 million yuan through "law enforcement to generate revenue" even though the county’s annual fiscal revenue was less than 100 million yuan. building……

The essence of law enforcement is service, which is to provide public safety, public order and other service "public goods" for the general public. However, facts have proved that once the power of law enforcement is linked to the economic interests of the law enforcers, the balance of law will inevitably be seriously unbalanced. , the resulting social harm is also extremely serious. First, the so-called law enforcement industry ruthlessly tramples on the social credibility of public power. "This is a violation of the law, and its proliferation can only affect the people's trust in the law." A driver friend in Beijing who often travels out of town told reporters, "Originally overloading is illegal, but you can still continue after paying the money." Overload, these days, it feels like you can break the law if you have money." The reporter found that fines are the power granted to administrative law enforcement departments by the "Administrative Punishment Law". It is more likely to lead to the alienation of public law enforcement power.Law enforcement personnel exercise law enforcement power on behalf of the country and the government. Any unfair law enforcement may reduce the prestige of the government in the eyes of ordinary people, and also reduce the public's confidence in establishing a society ruled by law. Second, the "law enforcement industry" hinders the development of a market economy.Information from various sources shows that some law enforcement agencies have abused their law enforcement powers to seek interests for departments and individuals, seriously disrupting the order of the market economy and endangering the healthy development of the market body. "The industrialization of law enforcement affects the formation of fair, just, and open market transactions, and hinders the development of the market economy. If the law enforcement industry develops, it will inevitably be ruthlessly retaliated by market laws." According to the analysis of relevant experts, the reason for this is actually very simple : For the local government, the "law enforcement industry" is only a direct and short-term benefit, and it is essentially doing a stupid thing like drinking poison to quench thirst. During the investigation, the reporter found that the Public Security Bureau, Land and Resources Bureau, courts, and procuratorates are considered by many people to be the units with good "benefits" in law enforcement, and they have become the first choice for people to choose jobs. "The wages of these units are not high on the surface, but there are a lot of benefits and hidden income. For example, housing, some people can buy the welfare housing of the unit after working for a year." The reporter has a friend whose son graduated from university in 2007. After many twists and turns, he finally After entering a certain traffic law enforcement department in Yunnan, the friend told the reporter, "Although I spent a lot of money on gifts for my son's work, I can earn it back in a few years." Relevant experts believe that in order to standardize the law enforcement behavior of law enforcement agencies and prohibit fines from generating income, the most important thing is to examine the crux of the contradiction, build a complete public financial system, and effectively cut off the bad link between law enforcement and interests. Du Liyuan, a lawyer from Beijing Zhongsheng Law Firm, said in an interview with reporters that administrative penalties and administrative licensing items and fees must be set according to law.According to the "Administrative Licensing Law", except for laws, administrative regulations or local regulations not stipulated by the former two, other normative documents shall not set administrative licensing.Administrative license fees and administrative penalty fines must all be turned over to the state treasury.Administrative agencies shall charge fees and penalties in accordance with the promulgated statutory items and standards when implementing administrative licenses and administrative penalties; the fees and fines collected, the confiscation of illegal gains, or the proceeds of confiscated illegal property auctions must all be turned over to the state treasury, and no agency or individual may Withholding, misappropriation, private distribution or private distribution in any form.Any violation shall be investigated for legal responsibility in accordance with the provisions of the "Administrative Licensing Law", "Administrative Punishment Law" and even the "Criminal Law". Professor Mao Shoulong from the School of Public Administration of Renmin University of China believes that the "small treasury" existing in the government should be completely eradicated, all extra-budgetary funds should be included in the government's budget control, and a thorough "separation of income and expenditure" should be implemented. Administrative fees and confiscated income must be All turned over to the finance, everything into the national treasury, put an end to extracorporeal circulation and arbitrary disposal of large sums of public financial funds. "To eliminate the phenomenon of abnormal income-generating law enforcement, it is necessary to use scientific methods to balance the wages of various regions and departments of the country, to prevent the formation of competition among administrative agencies, and to strictly prohibit income-generating law enforcement." Li Chengyan suggested, "Establish In the public financial system, the funds and staff salaries of all administrative agencies are allocated by the state, and all government revenues must be managed by the fiscal and taxation departments in a unified manner, and it is strictly forbidden to return them in various forms; Implement centralized treasury payment." Most experts believe that in order to curb the so-called law enforcement industry, the existence of extra-budgetary funds must be eliminated, because the establishment of a rule of law society requires a sound financial order, and the role of public finance in the construction of a harmonious society is becoming more and more prominent. All financial reforms Must be premised on a complete budget!