NO COPS? NO PROBLEM!
French Rioting Back To Normal

A LITTLE BACKGROUND: During the recent rioting the French police were asked to perform above and beyond the call of duty. First they were expected to actually patrol, answer calls, and administer the law in their jurisdictions. Next they had to put in long hours, sometimes working 7½-hour shifts two days running.

And hardest of all, they were ordered to be cheerful ambassadors of the state. Arrests and detentions were to be handled professionally. Suspects were to be treated with dignity and offered two choices of dessert, American cigarettes, and a souvenir plastic comb with the imprint of the Préfecture de Police. Were nothing to a suspect's liking on television, the arresting officer, if requested by the suspect, was expected to dance, mime, or make funny faces, however instructed. National police chief Michel Gaudin explained, "When zee suspect he laugh, he smile, zee riot she go."

FRENCH POLICE TURN ON CHIRAC AS OFFICER JAILED*

PARIS/BOBIGNY November 13, 2005 (Telegraph) - As officers were deployed in force in Paris yesterday following a call on weblogs for a mass demonstration, the police union described the jailing of one officer and the suspension of others as "incomprehensible and unacceptable". Police officers, who have been targeted with stones, missiles and Molotov cocktails since the trouble broke out, said they were "stupefied" by the action taken against their colleagues.

State television showed images of two officers hitting and kicking a young man while six colleagues stood by watching in the northern Paris suburb of La Courneuve on Monday. One officer is being held in detention while four others are also under formal investigation. The French interior ministry said the victim had suffered cuts to his face and right foot, but had been declared fit for work.

An employed rioter! Not to worry. Later that week, the same "youth" showed his fettle by stoning firemen. Understandably Alliance Police Nationale, the union of the French national police, was a bit miffed [Hat tip: ¡No Pasarán!]:

LE "RAS-LE-BOL" DES POLICIERS*

November 12, 2005 (TF1) - Calling for "calm and professionalism" within the force, Alliance, the main police union, stated Saturday that police are "dissatisfied" that the officers were put under examination. "There is a very perceptible state of tension in police stations, including ourselves", said Jean-Claude Delage, Assistant Secretary General of the union [sic, according to the union's Web site M. Delage is the Secrétaire Général; Jean-Yves Bugelli is the union's Secrétaire Général Adjoint]. ... For its part, the Alliance police union local 93 announced Saturday that the police officers of Seine-Saint-Denis could only provide "minimum coverage" with his call due to continuous operations dealing with rioters.

Well, the riots are so much yesterday. Remembering there are elections to win, Sarko arranges some bone throwing.

FRENCH POLICE TO RECEIVE BONUS PAY*

PARIS November 25, 2005 (AP) - Thousands of French police, who came under fire from bullets, Molotov cocktails and rocks thrown by angry youths in France's worst civil unrest in decades, will receive bonus pay for their efforts to quell the violence, a top police union official said Friday.

National police chief Michel Gaudin told a conference of police Thursday that about 22,000 officers will receive additional payments of $350 each, according to Jean-Yves Bugelli, assistant secretary general of the Alliance police union.

* Absolutely no Muslims sighted during the writing of this report.

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