In a country where female drivers often face discrimination (wider parking spaces for women, anyone?), Shenzhen traffic police are fighting against the stereotype.
Twenty-three policewomen are currently in training to join the country's first all-female, motorcycle-riding traffic patrol team. Of them, 12 will make the final cut. They'll form a small but significant branch of a 300-strong motorcyclist police brigade that has been up and running for the last five months.
Unlike traditional police enforcement around most of the country, motorcycle-riding police officers can observe situations more closely and respond to them more quickly. Also, before the institution of the motorcyclist policemen team, the sheer volume of traffic through the city made it incredibly hard for regulations to be enforced everywhere at once.
A look at the team when it was started in March
Now the Shenzhen traffic police are looking to scale up on their latest project (and not only with its female team), aiming to have a total of 700 motorcycle-riding traffic police patrolling the streets before the end of this year.
Before joining the promising group, however, many of the women must be trained. Most of the female officers who have made it through the application process so far have little experience actually riding motorcycles.
Despite the obstacles they face, a reporter for Te Times who stopped by a training center in Yantian observed things going pretty smoothly.
The women in training have progressed to doing maneuvers with traffic cones. According to instructor Liu Chenglin, they train every day from 9-12pm and 3-6pm, with 7-8pm set aside for intensive work.
Some of the beginners were still using less powerful models to practice, but a female officer named Qian Wenjun assured the reporter it wasn’t because of any inherent physical differences between men and women.
“Our female motorcycle team members ride without problems, it’s not that only men can ride.”
Qian was a professional swimmer before she joined the traffic police, and has already moved on to training with the vehicles normally used on patrol.
Everyone, beginner or not, wore protective gear in case of accidents. Falls didn’t happen often, but when they did, trainees usually brushed themselves off and continued practicing. A 19-year-old policewoman commented playfully, “…Riding a motorcycle is like you’re dating it: you’re not afraid to get hurt, you just want to control it, enjoy this process, and one day you’ll be able to tame it.”
[Images via Shenzhen Business News, Te Times]
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