In October, the China-Myanmar border town of Ruili still carries humid heat in the air.

At the "One Village, Two Countries" scenic area, visitors stream in, while staff and volunteers patrol among the crowds and guide the flow; in the streets and alleys, delivery riders weave through traffic while also keeping an eye on activity along the roadside; at midnight, residential compound security guards finish their final building patrol and check in on their phones to report all is well.

These scattered figures across the border town are all connected to the same WeChat mini-program, "Ruili Volunteer Police." Nearly 4,500 people from all walks of life have thus been bound together into a single force.

Ruili is located in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, sharing mountains and rivers with Myanmar, with active bilateral trade and frequent personnel exchanges.

Peng Wei, commander of the Ruili Border Management Brigade, explained that this is one of the most complex border control areas in the country, with heavy tasks in border control, public security prevention, and dispute mediation—police forces alone cannot cover every street and alley.

"Beyond the police, Ruili has a massive civilian force," Peng Wei said. Delivery riders and couriers travel through streets and alleys, landlords and merchants are rooted in communities and markets, and village residents are familiar with local people and terrain—when something unusual happens nearby, they are often the first to notice.

But in the past, these forces were scattered, making recruitment, coordination, and management difficult.

In March 2024, the Ruili Border Management Brigade, with technical support from China Mobile Yunnan Company's Ruili Branch (hereafter "Ruili Mobile"), launched the "Ruili Volunteer Police" WeChat mini-program, building a "digital intelligence mass prevention" platform.

Residents can register online, submit identity information, and after review by the Border Management Brigade, be added to the roster and take up their posts.

Opening the mini-program, sections for clue reporting, patrol and prevention, assistance and rescue, dispute mediation, and school safety are clearly laid out.

The backend publishes patrol tasks, and volunteer police click to accept orders; upon discovering anomalies, they take photos and upload them, and the information is immediately routed to the appropriate force for handling; completing tasks accumulates points that can be redeemed for rewards.

Screenshot of the "Ruili Volunteer Police" WeChat mini-program. Online screenshot.

At Ruili's "One Village, Two Countries" scenic area, tourists crowd in front of China-Myanmar border marker No. 71, holding up their phones, while the "transnational swing" rises and falls to constant laughter.

Song Xiaoqing, a staff member at the scenic area responsible for daily security duty, joined the volunteer police team and now pays extra attention during patrols: whenever there is anything unusual near crowded tourist spots, around merchants, or at entrances and exits, she reports it through the mini-program.

"Protecting the scenic area is my job. Being a volunteer police officer is about using the power of an ordinary person to contribute a little more to my hometown," Song Xiaoqing said, hoping that visitors to Ruili can feel the safety and friendliness here.

At night, Ruili's Yangyanghao Jewelry Livestreaming Base is brightly lit.

Under fill lights, jade glows warmly, and streamers hold up products close to the camera, turning them while explaining; on screen, messages inquiring about prices and placing orders scroll endlessly.

Wang Baoke, manager of the base, explained that over 95% of Myanmar jadeite enters the Chinese market through Yunnan ports.

Dehong Prefecture, where Ruili is located, is the main channel for importing Myanmar jadeite raw materials, with more than 45,000 jewelry and jade business entities and over 100,000 practitioners; in 2025, local jewelry livestreaming sales reached 11.59 billion yuan.

Trade is booming, but online disputes are also numerous and highly specialized.

For this reason, the "Ruili Volunteer Police" has recruited judicial personnel, legal advisors, jewelry appraisal experts, and livestreaming base staff to form a professional mediation team, regularly conducting market patrols, dispute early warning, and mediation.

There are many other teams formed according to specific scenarios in Ruili.

During school drop-off and pick-up times, volunteers escorting children at school gates are members of the "Sunflower" School Safety Volunteer Police Team; those weaving through streets and alleys include the "Border Knights" made up of ride-hailing drivers and delivery riders; for Myanmar-related communication and cross-border disputes, the Paukphaw (Myanmar term meaning brothers) Service Team, familiar with both countries' languages and customs, steps in.

Currently, Ruili has established 161 volunteer police teams, developed nearly 4,500 volunteer police officers, carried out 2,297 public security and border patrols, provided more than 590 clues, assisted in handling 158 rescue-related police incidents and mediated 82 disputes, and participated in 8,401 "School Safety and Campus Protection" activities.

A relevant official from Ruili Mobile introduced that the platform will next explore applications such as AI early warning and digital patrols, so that anomalous information can be discovered more promptly and task scheduling made more precise.

Today, the Ruili Volunteer Police model draws in people from all sectors of society at the front end, adding countless eyes throughout the streets and alleys; at the middle end, it relies on a digital intelligence platform to connect clue reporting, task dispatch, and handling feedback through one network; at the back end, it is equipped with strong professional teams, with public security patrols, dispute mediation, and cross-border services each managed by dedicated personnel.

The border town is stable and orderly, and Chinese and Myanmar border residents interact in harmony.