Beijing police release official caricatures

To draw attention to the role the public play in security work, Beijing police on Thursday released official cartoons of two of its most ardent supporters.

The "Chaoyang resident" and "Xicheng Dama" (elderly women of Xicheng) caricatures were shared by the Beijing police on its Weibo account to encourage the public to get involved in community support work.

Chaoyang is often a trending topic online, owing to the number of police reports filed by residents of the east Beijing district that have led to the investigation of celebrities involved in drugs or prostitution.

The response online has been positive, and firmly tongue in cheek, with some saying that the omnipresent "Chaoyang residents" is the world's fifth intelligence agency after the CIA, the FBI, the KGB and MI6.

The Xicheng Dama support the police during special events, such as the annual Two Sessions, reporting anything they suspect to be "unusual". They account for up to 70 percent of the district's public support force and have alerted police to 72 instances of suspected terrorist activity so far this year.

The caricature of the Xicheng Dama features all the stereotypes associated with elderly Chinese women -- her hair is permed and cut in a short bob, she is wearing a "Qipao" (a traditional Chinese top) and in her hand is a bag bursting with vegetables.

The official image of the Chaoyang resident, on the other hand, depicts a young man casually checking his cell phone, wearing a headset similar to Google Glass, and dressed in a white T-shirt that reads "I love CY [Chaoyang]".

The police released the images with the hashtags "#counterterrorism, #everyoneisresponsible". Endit