FRANCE WARNING TO LES FLICS TO FOREIGN TOURISTS, THE PARIS COP SEEMS 
A MODEL OF QUIET COURTESY . HE DIRECTS THEM TO AMERICAN 
EXPRESS AND THOMAS COOK WITH A DEBONAIR SALUTE ; HE GUIDES 
GLADIATORIAL TRAFFIC WITH A CALM NONCHALANCE . FRENCHMEN LOOK ON LE 
FLIC QUITE DIFFERENTLY . APART FROM THEIR DISLIKE OF TAKING ORDERS 
FROM ANYONE, THEY KNOW THAT FREQUENTLY IN THE HEM OF HIS 
NATTY BLUE CAPE IS SEWN ENOUGH BUCKSHOT TO BREAK A MAN'S 
AND SOMETIMES A WOMAN'S NOSE . THEY HAVE SEEN HIM WADING 
INTO A CROWD FLAILING A 6-FT . RIOT CANE LIKE A 
SCYTHE . PARISIANS RECALL MANY BLOODY HEADS ACROSS THE YEARS, ESPECIALLY 
THE NINE PEOPLE KILLED IN THE CRUSH WHEN POLICE BROKE UP 
A 1962 PEACE RALLY . BUT THE LATEST UPROAR BEGAN IN 
APRIL, WHEN CINEMACTOR JEAN-PAUL (BREATHLESS) BELMONDO DARED TO PROTEST THAT A 
COP WAS NEGLECTING AN ACCIDENT VICTIM WHILE QUIZZING WITNESSES ; BELMONDO 
WAS KNOCKED FLAT . DURING MAY, FOUR PRISONERS DETAINED FOR TRIFLING 
OFFENSES HANGED THEMSELVES IN THEIR CELLS . THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE 
TO PROVE THAT THE POLICE WERE AT FAULT, BUT NO ONE 
COULD CONVINCE SUSPICIOUS FRENCHMEN THAT THE DEATHS WERE NOT CAUSED BY 
THIRD-DEGREE TACTICS . PARIS HAS ALSO GOTTEN A LITTLE TIRED OF 
THE OVERZEALOUS USE OF SUBMACHINE GUNS ISSUED DURING THE PAST ALGERIAN 
TERRORIST OUTBREAKS . WHEN A PANTHER ESCAPED FROM A CIRCUS, A 
FLIC MISTOOK A SHADOW FOR THE BEAST AND IN ERROR PLUGGED 
A PASSER-BY . ANOTHER LUDICROUSLY CHOPPED UP A COW, BROKEN LOOSE 
FROM A SLAUGHTERHOUSE, WITH HIS TOMMY GUN . WITH NEWSPAPER HEADLINES 
GROWING EVER MORE CRITICAL, PUBLIC ANIMOSITY BECAME SO GREAT THAT FOUR 
FLICS WERE BEATEN UP RECENTLY . CONCERNED, INTERIOR MINISTER ROGER FREY 
LAST WEEK CALLED TOP POLICE OFFICIALS TOGETHER AND SPOKE SOME HARSH 
WORDS . HE TOLD THEM " TO ORIENT THEIR ESSENTIAL ACTIVITIES 
TOWARD THEIR TRADITIONAL JOB . " / YOUR ACTION WILL CONTRIBUTE 
MOST TO THE PUBLIC PEACE, " FREY UPBRAIDED THEM, " WHEN 
IT IS CARRIED OUT WITH HUMANITY, SANG-FROID, TACT AND COURTESY, WITH 
UNRELENTING CARE FOR THE RESPECT OF HUMAN BEINGS . THIS REQUIRES 
NOT A LITTLE URBANITY IN RELATIONS WITH THE PUBLIC . " 
WHETHER THE COPS REALLY CARED TO IMPROVE THEIR PUBLIC IMAGE WAS 
OPEN TO QUESTION ; THE TRADITION OF STERN AUTHORITARIANISM IS DEEPLY 
ROOTED . THE PARIS FORCE DATES BACK TO THE DAYS OF 
AUGUSTUS CAESAR AND ASSUMES THE ROLE OF A STATE, RATHER THAN 
MUNICIPAL, POLICE . UNTIL THE RECENT CRITICISM, THEY COULD HOLD A 
SUSPECT UP TO TWO WEEKS WITHOUT EXPLANATION . THEY STILL ISSUE 
PASSPORTS, LICENSE EVERYTHING FROM PROSTITUTION TO DRIVING, AND KEEP CLOSE TRACK 
OF THE WHEREABOUTS OF EVERYBODY IN PARIS . WILL THE OLDEST 
CONSTABULARY IN THE WESTERN WORLD MEND ITS WAYS ? ONE MAN 
ON A BEAT HAD A PLAIN REPLY : " TOI, MELE 
TOI DE TES OIGNONS (MIND YOUR OWN ONIONS) . / 