'Blue Whale' workstations improving the city's business environment

Shanghai police have set up several workstations this year to help enterprises identify and deal with economic crimes.

The Public Security Bureau's economic investigation department has built several "Blue Whale" workstations to educate enterprises on economic crime prevention as well as give legal assistance.

The first was opened in April and there are now 17, especially in business districts, commercial buildings, and industrial parks, building a bridge of communication between police and businesses.

In April, personnel from a supply chain management enterprise came to the "Blue Whale" workstation in Songjiang to report business flow abnormalities.

In less than two months, police had solved the case of employee misappropriation and arrested the suspect, helping enterprises recover more than 4 million yuan (US$560,000).

Songjiang District's "Blue Whale" workstation is in the G60 S&T Innovation Valley of the Yangtze River Delta, where there are 6,164 registered enterprises currently.

"This service model breaks down the barriers of traditional legal services and integrates legal counseling and guidance, case processing, and other aspects," said Chen Ying, deputy chief of the economic investigation detachment of the PSB's Songjiang branch.

"Enterprises no longer need to look far to find suitable legal resources. They can receive a full range of legal services simply through 'Blue Whale' workstations," Chen said.

Since the construction of the workstations, Shanghai police have been visiting different enterprises and providing legal assistance with investigations, if criminal acts are suspected, carried out to protect the rights and interests of enterprises, Chen said.

This year, the Shanghai PSB's economic investigation department have detected 600 cases of infringement of business secrets and brand rights and interests, with over 2,000 suspects arrested and more than 5 billion yuan involved. Investigators also dealt with more than 200 cases of contract fraud, with over 400 suspects arrested, involving more than 1.3 billion yuan.