Beijing model sentenced for posting sexy photos in police garb

A model in Beijing was handed a suspended sentence by a court on Monday, after she was found posting provocative photos of herself in police uniform on microblogging site Weibo in July.

Wang Xiaomeng, 23, posted three photos of herself, clad in a blue police uniform top, complete with faux rank insignias and a policewoman’s hat. Her legs were bare in one photo as she pulled a pair of black stockings over them on a bed.

“As a police beauty, a lot of pressure is on me …All day long, I have to eat and drink with government leaders,” Wang wrote on her Weibo account.

Wang took the photos down shortly after Sina, Weibo’s parent company, received 14 complaints.

She claimed she was paid 3,000 yuan (HK$3,700) to take the photos for an advertisement and had posted them on her Weibo account to attract more followers.

The Court of First Instance in Beijing’s Fengtai District found Wang guilty of false impersonation as a policewoman and sentenced her to nine months in prison, suspended for a year.

Wang’s Weibo post was re-posted more than 500 times and received more than 200 comments.

The case has since sparked heated debate amongst China’s netizens as to whether what she did was criminal.

“It’s obvious that [Wang] was doing this purely out of fun… she had no intention of seeking illegal interests,” wrote one Weibo user. “Regardless of how she damaged the police force’s image, a law was not broken.”

Another wrote: “Anybody posing as staff of state organisations violates the prestige of these state organisations and therefore, affects how they manage to carry out services to society. In principle, this should be criminalised.”

According to the Beijing News, Wang moved to Beijing after graduating from high school five years ago.

She worked as a hotel waitress, secretary and in web promotion for a film and television company, before getting signed as an amateur model.