Police Station Director Attempting to Harass a Practitioner Backs Down When Challenged with the Law

(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners in China have been frequently harassed, arrested, and threatened throughout the 23-year-long persecution campaign launched by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The police station in my district gave orders in March 2022 to gather biological information from all practitioners.

One day, four police officers knocked on my door.

“Who is it?” I asked.

The leader was the newly appointed director of the police station. He previously made phone calls to harass practitioners. The young and energetic director waved a police ID in the door peephole and said. “I am Officer Lin, open the door.” 

I asked again, “Who are you?”

He replied, “I am from the police station.”

I asked, “Which police station are you from and what is your name? I need to verify your identity.” He told me his name and the other policemen announced their names.

I asked, “On what business are you here?”

He said, “Open the door and we will tell you.”

I replied, “What is your legal basis for ordering me to open the door?”

He said, “Hurry up and open the door. If you don’t, I will use other means to force my way in.”

I said, “If you don’t have any legal basis, then you are abusing your authority.”

He ignored my concerns and continued to knock on the door.

I said, “I am saying this for your own good. If you don’t have legal basis for entering my house, you are breaking the law, do you understand?”

He kept knocking on my door non-stop and appeared to intend to force his way in.

I said, “The military officer follows commands while policemen carry out the law. Which law are you acting on to make me open the door?”

The men ignored my words.

I said, “If you continue to knock on my door, I will call the police!”

He said nonchalantly, “Go ahead and call the police.”

I immediately dialed 110 and said. “This is my address. A group of policemen came to my home and began knocking on my door. I did not commit any crime nor am I a fugitive. I am a legal citizen of China, protected by the law, why are policemen knocking on my door?”

The police officer who answered my call said, “What are their names?” I reported the names of the policemen outside my door, and said, “They are intruding on private property.”

The officer said, “If they are outside your house, it’s not considered intruding on private property.”

I said, “They have no legal basis to demand I let them into my house. Why should I open the door?”

He replied, “You can choose not to let them in.”

I told the officers outside my house, “I called 110.” They continued to knock on my door.

I said, “Since you cannot show me any legal basis, I will lodge a complaint to the superintendent.” 

The director said arrogantly, “You can call whoever you like, it won’t work.”

I then dialed 110 and asked the police officer to transfer me to the superintendent. The same officer answered the call and said, “Aren’t you the person who just called?” I answered, “Yes! The policemen outside my house said I must open the door. I want to ask the superintendent if they have the authority to make me open the door.”

The officer agreed to put me through to the superintendent.

I told the superintendent, “This is my address. A group of policemen came and told me I had to let them into my house. I am neither a criminal or a fugitive. I am a legal citizen protected by the law. Do they have legal basis for their actions?”

I told the policemen outside my door that I lodged a complaint to the superintendent. If they didn’t leave, I will call the police station’s hotline number for complaints.

When I looked out the peephole a few minutes later, I noticed that the director as well as several policemen received phone calls simultaneously. The atmosphere appeared to soften. They stopped knocking on my door and a few officers sat on the ground.

I suspected that the superintendent called them. The director was afraid his career might be affected. Besides it was very difficult to get rid of a record on complaints from the superintendent.

I opened the door and said to the policemen: “What are you here for?” The director’s attitude changed completely. He said amicably, “We just want you to cooperate and let us take blood samples.”

I said, “To my knowledge, the law says that blood samples can only be taken from criminals. I am not a criminal, so I refuse to comply!”

The director said, “If you refuse, so be it.”

They left. After he walked down the stairs, the director even turned back and said, “Rest assured, we will not come back to harass you again.” 

With that, a threatening situation was resolved by my calmly insisting that the law be followed and reporting the unlawful behavior of those officers to the authorities.

In my opinion, if police officers refuse to go by the law and insist on carrying out orders from above, we can use effective means such as filing complaints, administrative reconsideration, lawsuits and so on to stop them from acting against the law because these are tied to their personal gains.