Unproductive arrogance in uniform

Sunday, April 18, 6.45 a.m., Fleur de Lys Road, next to the Carmelite church: I stopped as usual to let my wife out of our car to buy Sunday papers when, all of a sudden, a police car with lights flashing stopped on the other side of the road and a red-faced police sergeant in uniform barged out with a white notepad and, like mad, scribbled the vehicle registration numbers of the cars whose owners had stopped to buy Sunday papers.

Then he crossed the empty road and took down the numbers of the cars there.

On seeing this, some motorists pleaded that they were driving off but he never bothered to answer. I started to drive off but he still took my number. On driving off, I saw him go round the roundabout and stop again, doing the same for more cars he found there. Along the road, there were policemen to make sure nobody parked and they signalled anybody who stopped to drive on. About an hour later, the same police car with the same driver put up large signs on the road in the area.

Is this the way the police want to gain the respect they deserve from the public? Police Commissioner, please note! A policeman's first objective is to educate but this officer was definitely after revenue.

I sincerely hope that the Police Commissioner will confirm that the people who happened to be there at that unearthly hour are not going to receive a surprise a few months on and be slapped with a parking contravention. These cars had stopped, not parked there - the Pope passed by at about 10 a.m.!