China News Service, January 19. According to the China Government website, the public reported that the punishment procedures for road law enforcement personnel in Shexian County, Handan City, were illegal. The Hebei Provincial Government sent personnel to conduct on-site inspections and urge local governments to implement changes and make inferences about other cases to investigate and rectify the situation.
Truck driver Mr. Xu reported through the State Council's "Internet + Inspection" platform that he drove a large tractor into Shexian County, Handan City, Hebei Province, and was fined 500 yuan by road law enforcement officers from the Shexian County Transportation Bureau.
However, after he paid a fine of 500 yuan on the spot, he did not receive the administrative penalty decision, nor did he sign or fingerprint anything. The penalty procedure was illegal.
After receiving the message from the masses, the Inspection Office of the State Council transferred it to the Hebei Provincial Government for verification and processing after preliminary verification.
After receiving clues about the problem from the Inspection Office of the State Council, the Hebei Provincial Government instructed the Inspection Office of the Provincial Government, the Provincial Department of Transportation, and the Provincial Department of Justice to send personnel to Shexian County to conduct on-site inspections.
After verification, Mr. Xu reported that the problem was true.
Mr. Xu drove a coal truck through S213 Provincial Road K22+600m in Shexian County. Because the cargo was spilled and polluted the road, and the information on the vehicle Beidou recorder did not match the name on the driver's qualification certificate, he was fined 500 yuan by the road law enforcement officers of the Shexian County Transportation Bureau.
The law enforcement officers did not clearly inform Mr. Xu of the specific reasons and basis when imposing penalties, which violated the "Administrative Penalty Law" which stipulates that "before making an administrative penalty decision, the administrative agency shall inform the parties of the content, facts, reasons, and basis of the proposed administrative penalty, and Inform parties of their rights to make statements, pleas, and request hearings according to law."
After questioning the relevant staff of the transportation bureau of the county involved and reviewing relevant case files, the inspection team found that the signatures and fingerprints of the parties in Mr. Xu’s administrative penalty case file were forged by staff at the road administration station, and the law enforcement officers did not deliver the administrative penalty decision to Mr. Xu. It violates the provisions of the "Administrative Penalty Law" which stipulates that "when law enforcement officers make an administrative penalty decision on the spot, they shall present their law enforcement certificates to the parties, fill in a predetermined format and numbered administrative penalty decision letter, and deliver it to the parties on the spot."
The inspection team expanded its investigation and found that among the 2,099 road administrative penalty case files of the Shexian County Transportation Bureau since 2023, the signatures and fingerprints of the parties involved in 1,964 of the files were forged by staff, with the forgery rate as high as 93.6%.
In addition, the "Hebei Province Transportation Administrative Penalty Discretionary Implementation Standards (2022 Edition)" (Jijiao Law [2022] No. 283) and the "Hebei Province Transportation System Administrative Discretionary Power Standards (2023 Edition)" (Jijiao Measures [2022] No. 283) 2023〕No. 218) all clearly stated: “Those who meet the five conditions of first time, minor, and cooperation at the same time shall be exempted from punishment for the behavior of throwing polluted roads.” However, in the case files investigated by the verification team, there is no decision on whether exemption from punishment is applicable to the case. The situation was explained, and there was a problem of insufficient implementation of the discretionary power benchmark.
After supervision, the Shexian County Government organized a review of law enforcement case files since 2021 one by one; the Shexian County Transportation Bureau opened up supervision and reporting channels, and purchased law enforcement recorders and networked law enforcement terminals; the Shexian County Discipline Inspection and Supervision Committee reviewed the Party Secretary and Party Committee of the County Transportation Bureau and The director and other five people were held accountable; the Shexian County Justice Bureau temporarily detained the law enforcement certificates of four law enforcement officers.
In response to the problems found in the inspection, Hebei Province promoted rectification based on point-to-point and inferences.
First, a large-scale investigation and rectification operation was carried out in the province's transportation administrative law enforcement field.
Focusing on issues such as campaign-style law enforcement, "one-size-fits-all" law enforcement, simple and rough law enforcement, brutal law enforcement, excessive law enforcement, mechanical law enforcement, profit-seeking law enforcement and irregular law enforcement procedures, we will carry out undercover supervision and supervision. We will discover, investigate and deal with, and correct all cases.
The second is to carry out inter-city cross-examination of administrative law enforcement and review of law enforcement case files.
The whole process review focuses on whether the subjects in law enforcement cases are legal, whether the facts are clear, whether the evidence is conclusive, whether the applicable law is accurate, whether the procedures are legal, whether the application of administrative discretionary standards is appropriate, and whether the production of legal documents is standardized.
The third is to increase education and training efforts to comprehensively improve the capabilities and quality of the law enforcement team.
The province's transportation system carries out classified and hierarchical training. Administrative law enforcement personnel each receive more than 60 hours of public legal knowledge, business knowledge and administrative law enforcement skills training every year. Rotary training for all members of the transportation law enforcement team will be completed by June 2024.