Seventeen police substation heads were fired in a campaign to fight "protective umbrellas" last year in Jieyang, Guangdong province, Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

The police substation heads were dismissed after they were investigated on allegations of having accepted bribes to secretly tip off criminal suspects before police special operations were launched.

Chen Luping, Party chief of Jieyang, said corruption involving local police is very serious and more effective and concrete measures will be introduced to fight police corruption in 2014.

Chen made his remarks during a panel discussion at the current session of the Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress in Guangzhou, the provincial capital, on Sunday.

"We have zero tolerance of corruption involving police," he said.

A number of senior Party and government officials in Jieyang were also investigated for serious violations of Party discipline and State laws in 2013.

They included Chen Hongping, the former Party chief of Jieyang; Zheng Songbiao; and Liu Shengfa, both former deputy mayors of Jieyang, Chen Luping said.