Editor's note: China Daily is profiling three police officers who have recently won a major national award in recognition of their contributions to the cause of national security

Yu Ge (left) and her colleagues examine documents before a special mission. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Deputy head of immigration team continues to lead from the front

During her 12 years in the immigration police force, Yu Ge has always worked in a border inspection role, honing her skills, serving travelers and cracking down on cross-border crime, such as gambling and telecom or online fraud.

Yu, born in 1989, started work in 2011. She is now deputy head of the first inspection team at the Baiyun Border Inspection Station in Guangdong province.

Even though people have always advised me to seek stability, that’s just an excuse to be discouraged or even give up when we meet some difficulties

Yu Ge, deputy head of the first inspection team at the Baiyun Border Inspection Station

Recently, her dedication to her work was rewarded when the National Immigration Administration named her as one of 10 National Frontier Guards.

Yu comes from a military family — her parents and grandfather were all soldiers — so integrity, perseverance and determination were ingrained in her from childhood. As such, she has learned self-discipline and tenacity.

Having embarked on her journey as an immigration police officer, she began learning the skills required for border inspection work.

After two years in the job, her work verifying travel documents and visas was noted for its reliability and efficiency.

However, her career hit a bottleneck. So in 2013, she applied to study frontier management at postgraduate level.

Despite the grueling schedule of preparing for exams and completing heavy inspection workloads, Yu was admitted to the Chinese People's Police University in Hebei province.

"I used to think that border inspection was just about checking immigration documents. During my postgraduate studies, I changed my view on frontier and entry-exit inspections and management. I broadened my horizons by learning many new things and ideas," she said.

In 2016, she returned to Baiyun Port to work after gaining her master's in law.

Since then, she has put forward a raft of suggestions for inspection work and a series of new approaches to tackling cross-border crime.

Yu accepts the award as one of 10 National Frontier Guards in April. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Learning, watching

In the face of the complex and changeable situation in combating cross-border crime at the Baiyun Airport, she decided to take the initiative to lead her team to learn from the local public security organs on how to prevent and crack down on such crimes.

"We should not limit ourselves to our own field, but also need to learn across fields and think about the criminals' possible methods from many different angles so we can intercept crimes at the forefront of immigration control," she said.

Yu also participated in the establishment of a verification database for the national immigration authorities — the first such database to involve details from millions of immigration documents — helped build four data models targeting cross-border crime, and led investigations into more than 400 cross-border gambling and fraud cases.

Last year, during a routine inspection of inbound and outbound passengers' information, a group of photos caught Yu's attention. When comparing a man's photo with his appearance in the flesh, Yu noticed that the image on the computer screen showed him to be well-dressed and have an intellectual look, but in reality he was aged and scruffy. Her years of experience made her ask her teammates how a person could undergo such significant changes in just a few years.

She quickly arranged for the other officers on duty to conduct a deeper examination of the man's details, which later confirmed that he was trying to cross the border under a false identity.

"Each member of the team is required to scrutinize every clue during law enforcement," she said. "With dedication and insight, we can gain more experience and knowledge via our inspection work."

As a woman and her family's only child, she has faced discouragement from those around her, who have often tried to persuade her to get married and have children, to work steadily at her current post and not to change her focus too often. "Even though people have always advised me to seek stability, that's just an excuse to be discouraged or even give up when we meet some difficulties. I have been independent and self-motivated since childhood, and I must keep pushing ahead to reach my goals," she said.

Female police officers have advantages when handling cases, Yu said. Sometimes, a cup of hot tea and an in-depth chat may be more effective than an intense interrogation, and female officers often perform that duty better than male officers, she said.

In addition, the immigration police are the country's "business card", and they should not only enforce the law to maintain frontier security and stability, but also show the warmth of the police force during their work, she said.

Yu has dedicated herself to her mission. So far, in the course of her career, she has examined over 350,000 inbound and outbound travelers, and apprehended more than 170 people involved in a wide range of illegal activities.