The Dubai Police Supercar Collection

Dubai Police BMW (Photo credit: Danny McL)

The papers have been all agog this week with Dubai Police's natty collection of supercars, being shown off at the ATM (Arab Tourism Market) show in Dubai. They've got more coverage than Beiber. Mind you, if it were up to me, I'd give the inside of a ping pong ball more coverage than Beiber, the egregious little brat.

The boys in green have been showing off their Bentley Continental, Lamborghini Aventador, Ferrari FF and an Aston Martin One-77 and many's the gasp their collection has earned 'em - you can see the pics here from The National.

Now while you might cavil and say this is just another example of over-the-top supercar culture in a country where car culture kills too many young people every year, I have to confess I have come around to the view that it's actually a brilliant stunt at a number of levels. Firstly, it's part of the Dubai Ltd message - better, bigger, faster more. We have such luxurious luxury neighbourhoods we have to patrol them in supercars. You might find the brashness sits uneasily with you, but these cars are every schoolboy's dream and they're as much a part of the Brand Dubai proposition as seven star hotels. And I bet you a pound to a penny they get a nice slot on Top Gear to boot - let alone loads of other media coverage and squillions of social media shares as tourists post Twitpicks of that unbelievable cop car they saw in Dubai.

It's also brilliant because it has the potential to recruit those dazzle-eyed schoolkids. If people who drive cars like this are cool then, syllogistically, Dubai Police are cool. And we'd all rather have a cool policeman to look up to rather than some out of touch fuddy-duddy jobsworth with a book of tickets, right? I mean, if some guy tooled up with an Aventador says 'Drive Carefully', you might just listen to the guy. It's like Chuck Norris telling you to eat your greens.

Initially skeptical, I have now taken my hat off...