My experience with Police around the world...

"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy) 12/17/2014 at 05:48 • Filed to: None

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I've been lucky to travel all around the world from a very young age and at 30 years old, I've already lived in 4 different countries. I've also encountered Police men and women quite a few times, either being at fault or not.

So I just thought I'd do a little write up about my feelings when it came to those encounters.

France Police: (Mostly dealt with the Gendarmerie Nationale, which is not exactly the Police... They are technically military. They are the ones that deal with speeding though). Professional. Too maybe? Tend to be very serious when in front of the "customer", but don't hide it very well when they laugh at your expense when they go back to their car to "check on something".

Quebec Police: WTF? I don't think I've ever talked to a cop that was over 35 year old. So many are young men and women, visible tattoos and so on. Felt like they were VERY unprofessionnal and made me think that most of those "kids" were just here waiting for some action, not really giving a single fuck about your problems...

US police: The lottery. You get everything... Nice cop, power tripping cop, tired cop, seen it all cop, cowboy cop, anti-canadian (eventhough I'm not) cop...etc.

Japanese Police: Robots. They have their job to do a certain way, they do it the way it is written in the book period. I feel that way quite often when it comes to Japanese at work in general though.

British Police: By far the nicest I've had to deal with. Always liked talking, remained very professionnal but natural. Loved it really lol.

Czech Republic Police: They are nice... But you're not from here, you can't read the signs and they know it. There are litteraly "tourist traps" in some part of Praha, it's crazy. They just wait and arrest all the tourists that make the same mistake one after another, just to make them pay. Kind of scandalous really. I've been arrested and I had to wait in line with other tourists from all around Europe to pay my fine. Crazy really. They'll also wait for you, coming out of Germany, while you still feel like going crazy slow doing only 160kmh to stop you and fine you. You are not allowed a single glass of alcohol either. 0 mg per breathed liter of air. 0. 0. 0. 0. NOT 0.1 or you go to jail. So be careful.

These are all the countries I've had police encounters in my life for now... Keep in mind this is just how I felt and in no way reflect the reality of things. As far as I know British cops could be terrible assholes, but I've dealt with the few that were really nice :)

So how do you see your cops? The ones from other countries you've dealt with?

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Flavien Vidal 12/17/2014 at 06:15

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Indonesian cops: Mostly assholes, but quite a lot of them is a really nice people.

Dubai cops: Mostly nice, but those who got to drive some supercars tends to be a bit showing off.

Russian cops: ....... You know what i mean.

Svend > Flavien Vidal 12/17/2014 at 06:23

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I've dealt with a few (working with them and on the receiving end), on the whole as long as you remain calm and pleasant then there is no need for it to get out of hand. The specialised teams like anti-terror, etc... usually carry a bit of attitude but keep it pleasant and it's soon over and everyone gets on their way, get 'mouthy' and there's no going back. That's the great thing, you can land at Heathrow, see a couple of fully armed police officers and know you can walk up to them and ask them a question and get an honest answer and be on your way without being nervous of doing so.

Our police aren't routinely armed and don't need to be, they are there to act as a visual deterrent to crime, reassure the public and to enforce law and order when it needs to be. If however even a knife is wielded then you will get the full arm of an armed response team and a quiet talk is far from going to happen.

DipodomysDeserti > Flavien Vidal 12/17/2014 at 06:40

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Italian cops: look like they're out of a movie. All the female cops have Jersied up hair, and the men and the women wear big Versace shades. Very stylish. The Carabinieri look like Gestapo.

Mexican cops: you done fucked up. Avoid contact at all costs. The local cops are most likely criminals. The federalis are better paid criminals. If you get arrested try to let other people know you've been arrested and DO NOT MOUTH OFF.

Flavien Vidal > DipodomysDeserti 12/17/2014 at 06:42

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Only dealt once with the Carabinieri... I wanted to write about them but didn't really know how to describe them. I guess "italians" would be the best fitting description :)

DipodomysDeserti > Flavien Vidal 12/17/2014 at 06:50

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That's the perfect description. Best uniforms in the biz IMO.

Leon711 > Flavien Vidal 12/17/2014 at 07:09

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British Yo!

CalzoneGolem > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 12/17/2014 at 07:09

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...those who got to drive some supercars tends to be a bit showing off.

If that's not the whole point of giving cops supercars I don't know what is.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Flavien Vidal 12/17/2014 at 07:13

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Norwegian cops: Always nice and friendly, but still professional. Got caught speeding once (in a car that had a tendency to shoot flames when shifting at full throttle), think I was doing 15km/h over the limit. The cop told me that since there was no other traffic he'd let me off with a warning, but he strongly recommended that I'd fix my fuel injection because an '86 golf shouldn't really shoot flames. He then started asking questions about what I'd done with the engine, wondering about 0-100 and stuff like that, he even told me that he wouldn't say anything about the modifications as long as he didn't see me shooting flames again.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > CalzoneGolem 12/17/2014 at 07:20

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Yes it was :D

Group B Enthusiast - Captain of the supercharged barge > Flavien Vidal 12/17/2014 at 07:47

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American cops: Exactly as described... The lottery. The few I've dealt with on the receiving end have been mostly professional, and one was notably friendly. But, I've also dealt with some professional a$$holes. "Not my problem, just doing my job." seems to be the general attitude...

Svend > Leon711 12/17/2014 at 08:07

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The many faces of British policing.

and their cars.

j250ex > Flavien Vidal 12/17/2014 at 08:34

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College police: very nice and understanding. Usually helpful and willing to lend a hand when needed. I've seen them offer students rides to classes when running late and jump off cars with dead batteries

Police of town college is situated in: Very unprofessional, rude, and ticket happy. Before going to college I had never seen a DUI checkpoint. In college it seems every other night there are at least 2 somewhere in town.

BJ > Flavien Vidal 12/17/2014 at 09:28

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Canadian Cop #1 - young officer with a small rural professional police force (what we'd call rather unkindly a rent-a-cop) who obviously had something to prove. Gave me a ticket for speeding, gave me a hard time for being bad when he was obviously right there - not like I can see you when you're hiding, jerk - but didn't show up in court when I contested it. The judge gave me a short, stern lecture and sent me home.

Canadian Cop #2 - RCMP officer, polite but no leniency. Got a ticket, paid my ticket.

Canadian Cop #3 - RCMP officer, polite but no leniency. Got a ticket, paid my ticket.

American Cop #1 - short-stack with no sense of humour in rural Montana, walked up to the truck with his hand on his gun. This is where we learned that you had to pay your fines in cash on the spot. Luckily my sister had some cash. Also, our insurance had run out but the cop didn't notice. (I wasn't driving this time, my mother was, thank goodness. My step-dad wanted to order a cheeseburger and milkshake when the cop came up to the window, but you could see right away that it would've ended poorly for all of us...)

American Cop #2 - giant hulk of a man, physically intimidating but professional. Some sort of highway patrol in Houston, TX. Gave me my ticket, told me where to go pay it, and reminded me to drive slower next time. I made sure to say, "Thank you, sir."

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Flavien Vidal 12/17/2014 at 09:30

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There are so many different police agencies in the U.S. and their standards can be very different. Throw in the fact that some of the agencies can be huge and it truly is the lottery. I've been pulled over by my state police a few times and its run the spectrum from "you should slow down, have a nice day" to the guy screaming at me before I could get the window down to the officer not really saying anything, just writing the ticket and sending me on my way.

Captain of the Enterprise > Flavien Vidal 12/17/2014 at 14:35

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"Cowboy Police"

Xyl0c41n3 > Captain of the Enterprise 12/28/2014 at 00:56

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Filler text here. Just taking up space.

what is the name of the paint color in the bribe photo? lowercase, no spaces.