Gambling among police officers in Dongguan, Guangdong province, has diminished after the city's department of public security disseminated a special letter to every officer early this month.
The letter, written by a local officer's wife, was first sent to Ye Wochang, Party chief of the commission for discipline investigation under the city's department of public security. It asked the city's police force to take effective measures to fight gambling by police officers.
The wife, who refused to be named, said her husband was an officer in the city's Changping township. She wrote the letter to save her husband and family after she failed to persuade her husband to quit gambling.
In her letter, the wife said she loved her husband and her family, but she worried that her husband would one day be fired and detained because of gambling, leading to the breakup of her family.
"Usually, my husband will not come home until midnight because of gambling with other officers," she said.
The wife said her husband worried he would be discriminated against if he refused to play mahjong and cards with his colleagues because gambling is widespread among local officers.
Last year, four officers, including Huang Chijian, deputy chief of Sima police station in Changping, were fired and expelled from the Communist Party of China after they were caught playing mahjong during work.
After reading the letter, Ye immediately sent it to every officer in his department and asked all the officers to write down their comments.
Ye also urged relevant departments to take effective measures to fight gambling by officers.
An officer from the Guangdong provincial department of public security reiterated on Thursday that gambling is illegal and officers who participate in gambling will be severely punished or dismissed.
After the letter was published, the gambling once common among officers diminished in Dongguan, a city in the prosperous Pearl River Delta bordering the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, where there are legal gambling venues.
According to an officer from Tangxia of Dongguan, many officers played mahjong and cards after work in previous months, but now few officers do.
"Many officers have been frightened by the letter," said the officer, who preferred to be anonymous.
Another local officer's wife said her husband used to go out to play mahjong or cards with colleagues at night. "But after he read the letter, he stays at home at night, drinking tea and watching TV."
By Zheng Caixiong
