Illustrations: Peter C. Espina/GT

Cell phone videos of forceful law enforcement can always go viral on the Chinese Internet, and eventually force the authorities to investigate whether police are guilty of misconduct. However, it is never an easy job for the people behind the phone cameras. In May, two college students in Lanzhou, capital of Northwestern China's Gansu Province, were heavily beaten by police because they were found shooting a video that caught the misconduct of two police officers on site, and refused to hand over the footage after being detained in the police station.

There has been a heated debate about the legitimacy of onlookers videotaping police doing their jobs in public places. In June, a local police station in Sichuan Province, on a post they sent via their official social media account, said "this behavior is an obstruction of law enforcement," and threatened to jail anyone caught shooting police on video. They deleted the post one hour later probably for fear of "picking a quarrel" in the cyberspace, but it still incurred the public's displeasure and criticism. Big Brother doesn't like being watched.

The top regulator of police - the Ministry of Public Security - gave a final conclusion in a recent training protocol to the debate: On-duty police officers shouldn't prevent the public recording their behavior as long as the filming does not interfere with law enforcement. The police are also not allowed to forcefully seize devices and delete footage.

This is a bold move for the top police regulator to push their men into the spotlight of public supervision. It has hung the sword of Damocles above the head of the police. More scrutiny will be imposed on law enforcement, which will give the people more freedom from fear.

Phone cameras and social media apps have proved their rising power as technological weapons against social injustice and corrupt authorities. Videos of fatal shootings of civilians by police officers in the US also keep raising uproar against violent law enforcement. Even now, police and the public still stick to different interpretations of the First Amendment and police practices, and argue about whether it is legitimate to film on-duty police officers, and whether they can order onlookers to stop filming.

It seems that China has offered a solution to the same problem faster than the US. But it doesn't mean the long-standing discord between the police and the public can be solved once and for all. Besides, new problems might emerge with the implementation of the new rule.

For example, unfortunately, the new rule does not make clear many issues that matter greatly: Under what circumstances will onlookers' filming be regarded as an "obstruction of law enforcement?" We need to know so that the new rule won't be twisted and abused due to its vague definition. How to control the risks if someone's filming exposes the identities of police officers during undercover work, which might pose direct threat to their work and lives?

In the Internet era, every little stain on an individual can be exaggerated to "prove" the rottenness of the entire group where he belongs. This pattern is especially evident between the public and police. In spite of the hoorays about how the new rule will foster good policing and right-minded people, I would like to call both the public and police to exercise caution around the rule, which shouldn't be carried out at the cost of efficiency of law enforcement and public security, or as an addition to the criminal charges that can be used for a broad range of offenses.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. liuzhun@globaltimes.com.cn