‘Round up the usual suspects’ is a line made famous by the French police chief in the Hollywood classic Casablanca. Over in Zhenxiong county in Yunnan province a less effective method was similarly employed last month to track down local undesirables. According to the People’s Daily, the county’s police sent out a notice on its official WeChat account that listed 100 fugitives it was trying to track down. However, members of the public were soon commenting that some of the photos of the criminals were of children – including one ‘kid’ fugitive who was supposed to be 51 years-old. When media began asking why outdated childhood photos were being used the Zhenxiong police explained that no recent images were available because the criminals had fled after committing their crimes. “Their facial profiles actually still look largely the same,” the post suggested. As criticism of the their approach mounted online, the post was swiftly deleted and the police eventually issued an apology, saying that childhood photos would not be used in future fugitive sweeps.
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