DUBAI // Police work is a constant struggle to keep ahead of the bad guys – but that has been made much easier for Dubai Police with their new piece of crime-fighting equipment, a Dh1.5 million Lamborghini Aventador.
Capable of reaching 350kph, the newest recruit is “in line with Dubai’s reputation as the city of luxury services”, the force says.
“It will be used on external roads and in locations that require fast, sporty cars.”
It is not known whether the car is for promotional purposes or if criminals will be driven in the back after capture.
“If the police are using it as a patrol car, it shows they have got wealth and class,” said Mahmoud Bukhari of Exotic Cars Dubai.
On Twitter, the news went viral. “Officer please cuff me in the #Aventador and throw away the keys,” wrote one user.
Another wrote: “There’s no way you’ll outrace the police in Dubai.”
A police spokesman said: “The car is specially modified in terms of power, speed and resilience. Its body and chassis are specially modified as well.”
Mr Bukhari said that in the past year his company had sold eight Aventadors, each for about Dh1.5m.
“There’s a huge market for these types of cars here,” he said. Dubai is the Monte Carlo of the Middle East.”
The city’s police are not the first force to own a Lamborghini. In 2004, the Italian Carabinieri was given a Gallardo, and it was used in police chases and to transplant organs.
Unfortunately, in 2009 officers crashed and wrote off the car.
Belgium’s police have a Gallardo and a Porsche 911, although both have been used solely for promotional purposes.
Geoff Armstrong, spokesman for the Lamborghini Club UK, said many authorities, particularly in countries where police are funded by taxes, were reluctant to use these cars regularly.
“There are a lot of different views,” Mr Armstrong said. “I can imagine that especially if it’s a public service like the police force, it’s seen as an extravagance.
“Especially in places where the police is tax-payer funded, I can imagine it’s not something that always goes down terribly well.”
The UK’s Essex police have used a Subaru Impreza STI to catch criminals in police chases.
Dubai Police added a Chevrolet Camaro SS to its fleet last month and said it was “working on overhauling its patrol cars fleet to ensure the presence of law enforcers in significant tourist locations such as Burj Khalifa, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard and JBR”.
It said the car was on a trial period and it was not clear if it would become a permanent fixture.
Mr Bukhari said it was a “fantastic marketing ploy”, but he was not completely sold on the idea.
"It's definitely making a statement to have these cars as police cars," he said. "But if you're asking my personal opinion, I think it's a little bit silly."
mcroucher@thenational.ae
