Chinese law enforcement visit Chattanooga, form partnership with police department
Last week law enforcement authorities from Chattanooga's sister city Wuxi, China, watched the city's SWAT team demonstrate the power and accuracy of the department's .50 caliber gun and watched the bomb squad blow a car 15 feet into the air.
"That was a very powerful gun and very accurate," Zhou Aiming, vice director and dean of Political department at the Wuxi Municipal Public Security Bureau, said through local translator Robert S. Edwards. "It would be good against terrorists."
Aiming was one of a seven-member team in Chattanooga early last week on a trip arranged by the police department, according to Matt Lea, assistant to Mayor Ron Littlefield in charge of special projects. The delegation spent last Monday at the police shooting range on Moccasin Bend Road, where they shot the .50 caliber gun, a heavy artillery weapon that can accurately hit a small target almost one mile away.
"This is a historic moment," Lea said. "This is the first time in the history of our sister city program that the purpose of the trip was to form an interdepartmental relationship. This is the fruition of a trip last year where City Councilman Manny Rico and I met some high ranking police officers. They were interested in seeing our police department."
Through a translator, Aiming said the goal of sharing information was a mandate from the Wuxi community. Wuxi, with a population of six to eight million people, wants more training, Aiming said.
"Public order is not a problem," Aiming said through Shao Weimin, a translator from Wuxi. "Because of the economic development in Wuxi, the government has focused on public order and training police officers."
Rico said the two police departments work in very different environments.
"I saw police but none of them had guns," Rico said. "I remember thinking, 'If something happens, how are they going to protect (people).'"
Rico said he recalled the city as chaotic, with people driving and riding bicycles with equal disregard for traffic signals or police.
"It was so strange, seeing people running red lights," he said. "The cab I was in cut off a police car. It was just chaos. Maybe they want to learn to give tickets."
Capt. Jeanne Hicks said on this trip the Wuxi authorities watched the Chattanooga police operate. Next year, Chief Bobby Dodd and other administrators hope to travel to China, she said.
Chattanooga has participated in the Sister Cities program for 30 years; delegations have visited Wuxi, the city's first and oldest sister city, about that many times, Edwards said. Wolfsburg, Germany, will become the sixth city later this year, he said.
The Wuxi delegation raced through its Chattanooga visit, starting with a welcome dinner Sunday at the 911 Emergency Center. Chattanooga police demonstrated the 3-D laser system that they are beginning to use for crime scene investigation. Connected by the city's fiber optic network, the laser creates 3-D holographs to upload crime scene diagrams, building holographs and other data points for processing.
Rain cut short a trip to Coolidge Park but it didn't deter the group's visit to the Incline Railway at the foot of Lookout Mountain.
As they waited to board, Aiming was informed that the Incline claims to be the world's steepest mile.
"Police are not afraid," he replied.
