A couple of weeks ago I squeezed a meager few yucks out of a toy Chinese police car that someone gave my son that happened to a) be a BMW and b) feature the seal of the Raccoon City police department from the “Resident Evil” series of zombie movies. “BMW!”, I thought. In China. “As if.”
Those are escort cars for the Shanghai World Expo, courtesy of China Hush. No tawdry Jettas for these guys. I realize that against the Burj Dubai-sized pile of cashola spent on the Expo (not to mention the Olympics) this is probably a trivial expense. Still, against the tattered backdrop that is China outside of the major cities, it just seems so…unnecessary.
Anyway, they have the BMWs. No word on the legions of undead. But with Expo opening next month, should happen any time.
As a taxpayer in China, I am seriously pissed. Chinese Govt authorities cannot help themselves when it comes to spending big on nifty hardware for themselves.
Meanhile, services paid for through tax are non-existant. All Govt services are delivered on a full cost plus substantial profit basis.
Putting that gripe aside though, the police are definitely better than in the past. It’s quite rare now to see a marked police car being used for private purposes. Back in the bad old days, you’d see them dropping kids off to school, taking the family shopping, parked outside restaurants & entertainment venues etc. Things improving, but some fundamentals stay the same.
Imagine what will be done with the cars after the Expo… going to the local district police chief’s private car usage pool a la above commenter’s third paragraph (which is still rampant)
Not event M5s? They are really scraping the bottom of the BMW barrel–come on JingJing and ChaCha, fork out the dough!
These BMWs are donated by BMW manufacturor in Liaoning. They have nothing to do with tax money.