Remember back in January when we reported that Beijing had created the “smog police” to help protect our city from pollution?
Well, in the past couple of months nothing much has been heard about these environmental officers – largely because they don’t appear to have done much. But they’ve made headlines today for detaining their first ever offender.
A Beijing employee was arrested and detained for releasing “untreated emissions” at a heating supply company in Mentougou, South China Morning Post reports. After a police investigation, officers found that the man was intentionally not following regulations and caused an excessive release of air pollutants. Police found that the company was emitting sulfur dioxide at 10 times the level allowed by the law.
The employee confessed to police that he had not been properly operating the business. He was taken into custody by Beijing officers on Monday. It is unknown how long the man will be detained. However, the maximum length of administrative detention is 15 days.
The “smog police” force was created to crack down on Beijingers who are polluting the air by barbequing outdoors, burning garbage, burning wood and more.
"Open-air barbecues, garbage incineration, biomass burning, dust from roads – these acts of non-compliance with regulations are actually the result of lax supervision and weak law enforcement," said Cai Qi, Beijing’s acting mayor, in January.
It looks like the smog police are finally getting serious.
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