MPS Spokesman Wu Heping said the Ministry will continue to establish an integrative chain of command by interconnecting the existing three police hotlines.

China's police and fire departments provide three public free hotline services 24 hours everyday, 110 for violence help, 119 for fire alarms and 122 for traffic accident salvation.

The 110 hotline was founded 20 years ago to offer people help when they encountered violence or other criminal offenses, Wu said,in the future people may receive other public emergency help such as repairing water pipes.

The State Council, or the Chinese central government, issued on January 8 a national plan on emergency response, a guidance on prevention and treatment of various emergency situations in which 110 has been recognized as a crucial part.

According to the plan, 110 will be expected to be a trunk line linking various departments which cope with social emergencies.

Statistics from the Ministry show that the hotline 110 received more than 120 million calls on 3.33 million criminal cases and minor offenses in 2005, which led to the capture of 864,000 suspected criminals.

At the same time, the hotline 110 received 15.8 million calls requesting help in their daily lives last year and the police has extended possible assistance to 3.21 million people in non-emergency situations.

But there has been heated debate on stretching the hotline too far. Some argue excessive diversification of the tasks of the police force will impair its ability to carry out its main missions, namely safeguarding public order and cracking down on crime.

Nevertheless, the Ministry insisted that the police departments at all levels will continue to keep the promise of quickly responding to any request of help from the public.

The ministry has ordered its branches at the county level to interconnect all three emergency hotlines since March of 2004 and some 41.7 percent of the police departments at the county level have finished the work, said the spokesman.

When the interconnection of the hotlines is completed, the police command of 110 will relay calls for help to respective departments if an individual dials 110 for other help rather than criminal or minor offenses, according to the police's plan. Enditem