France: Good Actions By Paris Police, Bad Vibes |
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File under France Uniformed
Author: Mike Werner
Location: Normandy, France
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Though you could brand the operation by the Parisian police as positive, the vibes that it emits is pretty negative. A few days ago, the "Prefecture de Police  " of Paris, the Parisian police department (not the municipal ones, but the ones that are part of the Minister of Interior), went on a "good points" operation.
A bunch of cops in civilian clothes went on "uncover" motorcycles (ie unmarked) and started following motorcycles riding around the French capital. Any biker who followed the law to the letter, and was dressed safely (helmets, gloves, jack and boots) was pulled over.
On the "police" motorcycle was a second person, either a B-list French celebrity, or an A-list celebrity impersonator (like Inspector Colombo), who then complemented the biker, and handed over some gifts from the police's partners, including a "good conduct" book signed by the governor.
This was done to reward good riders, and hoping that other bikers will take note and change their behavior in traffic (according to the stats, 41% of the deadly accidents in Paris are PTWPowered Two Wheel - motorcyles, scooters, mopeds - mind you, not motorcycle or scooters, but a large portion of teenagers on mopeds).
Nice idea, but can you imagine how you would feel. Going home after a hard day's work at the office, quietly enjoying your ride, and then a cop arrives (on an unmarked bike) and pulls you over! At that moment, you are not going to feel very enjoyable. It's a good thing not many French are armed....
And I do not think for one minute that the behavior of the squid racing down the streets will change because of a good rider getting some gifts that will end up in the trash bin 10 seconds afterwards.
10 points for the idea, 0 points for the execution. At the very least, instead of giving the "good" bikers some useless gifts, they could have given them a "get out of jail free" card, or given them back some of the lost license points.
Via: Moto Magazine (fr)
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