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The age old question of who will watch the watchers may have been answered by a new Chinese policy. Government officials in Youyang County, of southwest China‘s Chongqing Municipality, are now required to keep 3G mobile phones, equipped with GPS locator technology, on them at all times. The officials will be contacted on these phones to report their location, and if their report is different than the GPS data, they are subject to disciplinary action.

82 officials in Youyang County have already been publicly criticized for failing to report their actual location when questioned. According to a spokesman for the Youyang Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communist Party, 20 of the 82 government officials received undisclosed stricter punishments.

Zhang Seng explained to English People’s Daily Online that “We select officials at random, use GPS to track their locations and require them to report their whereabouts by the phone. If they lie, we will punish them with severity.”

The Chinese government used a local telecom company to customize 3G mobile phones with GPS locator systems, specifically for this purpose. The phones are only to be used by the randomly chosen government officials, and are not to be lent or transferred to anyone. If an official that was assigned a GPS locator phone is relocated, he or she must return the phone to the unit, according to Mu Yong, director of the Youyang Inspection Office.

This policy covers 239 government officials, including members from 39 different townships and 106 county departments, according to a document issued by the Youyang Inspection Office. The total cost of this plan costs the Chinese government 1.7 million yuan, or 260,000 U.S. dollars each year. Each GPS-equipped phone costs around 3,000 yuan, or 459 U.S. dollars, which is paid by the government, along with a minimum monthly cost of 342 yuan, or 52 U.S. dollars. Any additional fees are paid by the owner of the phone.

Article Written by Marisa O’Connor