Bogus police officers employed at highway project in northwest China to direct traffic

Contractors building a motorway in northwest China have hired workers to pose as police officers and direct traffic, according to a newspaper report.

The aim was to halt massive traffic jams created by the project in Yuzhong county in Gansu province, the Lanzhou Morning Post reported.

A section of the motorway is being built by a company controlled by the state enterprise CCCC Second Highway Engineering, the report said.

The firm came up with the idea of buying about a dozen counterfeit police uniforms and putting them on construction workers to direct the traffic as the work proceeds.

Traffic does appear to have improved under the “guidance” of the counterfeit traffic policemen wearing their ill-fitting uniforms, but the move has drawn controversy, the report said.

Some of the “policemen” have been spotted sitting in the shade while eating ice cream or chatting with villagers.