Police escort cars gearing up for summit
Print Edition
HIGH-TECH equipment, skilled drivers and all-inclusive rehearsals are essential requirements for the escort police cars that will carry out their duties during the Shanghai Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence tomorrow and Wednesday.
Each escort car is equipped with China’s independently developed Beidou satellite navigation system, a carcorder and a camera on the roof. The roof camera is connected to the city police command center and its images can also be viewed in the car on a tablet computer.
All the 64 Volkswagen Passat 3.0 V6 cars in the operation are rented to reduce costs.
“The Passat 3.0 V6 is cost-effective. Its acceleration, crashworthiness and control are all suitable for an escort car,” Chen Hao, who is in charge of the mobile police squad, told Oriental Morning Post.
Very demanding
A total of 153 police officers have been appointed as drivers for the escort cars. During the summit, each car fleet will be led by one escort car, and in each escort car will be two officers — one to drive and the other to deal with communications.
The police drivers are on average 30 years old and at least 1.80 meters tall. They all have at least three years of experience in driving an escort car.
“Being a qualified escort car driver is very demanding and they are all well-trained, said Yang Zhenhua, the captain of one team of drivers.
“For example, the angle and speed when making a turn is different depending on the actual situation. If the guest being escorted is an elderly person, the speed shouldn’t be too fast,” explained Yang.
“The driver should be familiar with Shanghai’s roads, including each district’s border and traffic lights at each junction.”
Yang said escort cars will travel at 40 kilometers per hour on the ground and 80 kph on elevated roads.
Add updates
Police began working on the escort plan five months ago and have conducted three rehearsals, all carried out from 11pm to 4am to reduce disturbance for city residents.
Even now, the final plan is still evolving as officers add updates to reflect amendments to the summit schedule.
“Making plans is more complicated than real practice,” Chen said. “If a delegate is replaced by another, everything — including the destination and routes — will also change and we have to redo our plan.”
Escort car drivers have precise rules to follow. For example, under no circumstances should the car stop in the middle of the route, Yang said.
Chen said they have back-up plans to ensure everything runs smoothly and on time.
“For instance, if it’s late, we can even drive on the reverse lane on the elevated road during the traffic control period,” he said.
“The summit is an important event. What we represent is not only the police, but also the image of Shanghai and China.”
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