Its not only the people of China that buy cars as social ranking enhancers, it seems the police are also playing the ‘keep up on the Jonses’ game, except, on an inter-provincial level.
Gone are the days when a police dept might be labeled bourgeois (zi chan jie ji) for even hinting at buying a car for their department, now it seems to be a competition to see who has the nicest car! China Car Times brings you a selection of provincial police cars, and asks, who has the best?
Jiangsu - MG7 (and an MGTF)
Guangdong - Mercedes
Shanghai BMW 7 Series
Xi’An - Roewe 750 (although appears to be a mock up of what a police car would look like)
Sichuan - Old 5 series BMW
Qinghai (or maybe Tibet - we cant make out the no plate very well) - Humvee
So who has the better motor?
You have to ask the question why do they need such expensive metal? As usual you can see with the 5 series it is being used strictly for police duty!
Indeed! Qingdao police are rather fond of the Beijing Da Lu (Toyota Prado), sure they look bad ass, but they dont do anything except drive from car accident to car accident.
The police are entitled to decent equipment to carry out their job.
However a BMW 7 series as police car is clearly a waste of public money and the party member who authorized this buy should be publicly executed.
If it needs to be bullit proof, Dong Feng or Norinco can supply something usefull. In fact all public agencies should buy made in China vehicles only. Except, if it concerns something extra ordinarly special that can not be supplied by a chinese manufacturer.
Guys,
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You are missing the whole point here. This is not public money, and these are not “law enforcement vehicles” in the way most of us understand that term.
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The Police drive their car to the market. They wear their uniform when they are out shopping. They use this equipment whenever and wherever they want. It is for their personal use. It is abused. It breeds disrespect. There is no respect for the equipment from either themselves of the general public.
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And where did these guys get the money to buy these kinds of cars? It is not from their equipment acquisition budget. It is corruption money. Can they use the money to buy themselves a fancy personal car. No! They would look corrupt driving around in a Bimmer. On their salary they can only afford a Chinese car. If they paint up and put lights on the expensive car they are doing a public service, making the local government look good and can flick the lights on anytime they get into traffic and move to the front.
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When you see a uniform or a cop car in the States, they are on duty! They change into civilian clothes to go home. They park the cruiser at the station.
I was told that many of the ‘better’ police cars are ones that have been ‘confiscated’ from people who dont pay their tax bills.
I am not sure if that is true or not.
Wait until you see another article coming up soon - cars of the PLA!