Police responsible for protecting people

On Aug 18, a 17-year-old cashier in Bengbu, Anhui province, was stabbed more than 10 times and died while two policemen stood nearby without helping her. We hope the police can learn lessons from this to prevent similar tragedies, says a column on Beijing News. Excerpts:

After the stabbing occurred, a video showing what happened was published. It can be clearly seen that two policemen arrived on site when the suspect approached the victim and began the attack, but the policemen did nothing to stop it. During the entire time the girl was being stabbed, they stood just a meter away and only dared to throw some baskets at the suspect after he stopped.

A police spokesperson said his two colleagues "reacted too slowly". Does this mean the policemen were not trained well enough? How could a police station send two poorly trained policemen to deal with a case that might cost human lives?

The two policemen were also badly equipped — they had nothing but pepper spray and batons. Imagine if they had a gun or something else that could stop the suspect from doing harm. The policemen are well equipped to deal with mass incidents, so why not the same when people's lives are threatened?

We hope what happened in Bengbu will teach police nationwide a lesson. They must train their staff well and equip them properly according to the case in which they are involved, as they are responsible for protecting the people and should be able to perform their duty.