A MEMBER of the traffic police and an urban management officer in Cixian county, North China's Hebei province, had a quarrel last month that escalated into a physical confrontation between the two departments. Beijing News commented on Saturday:

It is almost unbelievable that the two local law enforcement departments could be dragged into a confrontation involving more than a hundred personnel and forklift trucks. The spark was reportedly a traffic policeman using "bad language" to insult an urban patrol officer.

It is even more absurd that the head of the urban management bureau sought to "besiege" the traffic police station with a team of employees and trucks. Such a naked abuse of power, especially when local residents were watching on the sidelines, must be punished in line with relevant laws.

The severity of the incident lies not in the quarrel between the two law enforcement departments but in the fact they blatantly disturbed public order without a second thought. Usually such an organized confrontation would involve rival criminal gangs.

However so far, both departments have only been required to produce a written statement reflecting "deeply" on their misdeeds. That is not going to mend the damage they have done to the credibility of local enforcement.

What is even more worrying is that they might take a similar approach to their daily law enforcement duties. If that is the case, it needs further investigation into the county's law enforcement and how those responsible go about their work.

The clash between the two local law enforcement departments also sheds some light on the overlapping duties they have, which has caused similar trouble elsewhere.