Cops, Robbers and Impersonators

Something that kind of bugs me here in Beijing, even thought it doesn't really affect me much, is the police cars. They always have their lights on. Whether they need to get someplace or they are just moseying along on a Sunday afternoon, red and blue strobes all the time. So no one pays attention to them. I don't know if it's police policy here to do that, or just that the individual officers want everyone to know who they are, but it seems very self defeating if you ask me. If they were an emergency no one would move out of the way because they always use the lights. Or if there were a crime taking place the perpetrator would likely see the cops coming and stop.
So that's bad, but what's even worse is that ordinary people install lights and sirens in their personal vehicles. Today I saw a guy in his SUV trying to make a U-turn so he turned on what sounded exactly like a police siren to get the other vehicles to make room for him. He definitely wasn't an officer because I could see he was dressed in a polo shirt and driving a luxury vehicle and he wasn't in a hurry because he was sucking on a popsicle as he made the turn.
Any way, that's my rant for the week.