To enforce the law there has to be the police. My family and I have been traveling around the world. Some times the police are regulated and some times they are corrupt. In a perfect world the police would catch all the, criminals and the cops wouldn't oppress the people. I think that police should be approachable but still do their job.
Singapore is a really small country but it's police force is much bigger in comparison. Singapore has policemen that are dressed as regular people. If you break a rule in front of under cover cops then you get a fine. Newell ( our cousin from france) j walked across a street. Then an undercover cop gave her a ticket which had a fine. She did that at least 2 times before we came because she is in a rush to get places. When we were in the metro there were about 10 soldiers walking through the metro carrying M16, they were only about 16 years old. It made me feel kind of scarred because if I were them I would want to shoot my big gun in the metro. They were young because Singapore has mandatory military service. In Singapore, since there is a big police presence there isn't much law breaking. There are other country's like Singapore that like to show off how strong they are like India.
India has a big military presence so there are solders with guns on street corner. In India there isn't a different between police and the military. On our first night in Deli we went to dinner and there was about 4 guards standing around the entrance to the mall that we were eating at. When we were in Shimla there were big military parades. There were about 1,000 men, woman, horses, and camels participating in the parade. They even had there own ski army. The parade happens every day, at the same time. All the advertisements that we saw on buildings had missiles, tanks, and fighter jets on them. People that are running for office, have pictures of themselves posing with the countries weapons. India's police and armed forces eat up a lot of the country's budget, but the people seem okay with it because it makes there country powerful.
Italy is known for its corruption. I did not see any of the police doing much, but making the regular trip to the donut shop. I should say to pizzeria because we are in Italy. The police are driving Lamborghini's, and the country is in a debt crises. The police I saw when we were driving around and the police were standing in big groups not talking to anyone but each other. When we were in Italy we got our lap top stolen. We went to the police in Pisa. We went to the police station and they sent us to the next station. When we got to the right police station the Italian police man was distresses in helping us. The Italian police didn't even want our contact information. So if they some how got the lap top they wouldn't even be able to return it. In America when we tell the police that something was stolen, they come. The US police take a look around and fill out the forms with us. When we were on our first drive, we found out that the police do not enforce the traffic rules. It is obvious that the locals know that the police do not care, so they don't follow the traffic rules. I think that driving in Italy is more dangerous then anywhere else, because they drive fast and they do not follow the rules. When my dad wanted to get his fingerprints, my dad got sent from office to office because nobody wanted to help him. All the police men we saw were siting and doing nothing. They were more content telling us to go to a different police station then helping us. The Italian police have gotten so corrupted that the police men are content siting and doing nothing rather than doing there job.
Spain has been having lots of protests because the government is laying off their workers so the police are working really hard. At our hotel at 10 in the morning there was some government meeting and there were about 100 old people who were banging there pots and waving there signs around right out side our hotel. My dad was really exited because he always is happy when there is a protest. I think that it makes him think that people are being rebellious. The police didn't interfere but they made sure that the people that were staying at the hotel could come and go as they pleased, and that the protest didn't get out of hand. When we were driving from Madrid to Granada my dad got his first speeding ticket since New Zealand. He was really surprised at how efficiently it was done. There was a gray car in the bush, my dad mistakes it for a wreck but it had a radar gun. The radar gun in the gray car sent a picture of our car with the speed, another cop car was there to chase us down. When they caught us they gave us a printed ticket and made us pay cash. They were even willing to drive with us to the bank if we didn't have enough money. During our stay in Spain my parents needed to get there finger prints for some documents for the USA. I took a day off from school to translate for them. The police sent us from office to office assuring us that they can't help us it the next office could. Finally when we said that we have been to all the police stations in Granada someone was honest enough to tell us that we could go to 50 or 100 police stations in Spain and they wouldn't do it. Tempers were running high because we had spent whole day trying to get my parents finger print and with out results. Out of all police men I think the one that was being honest was the best. All the other police men didn't want to help us but they didn't want to tell us that nobody could help us either. I think that they knew that if they told us that nobody could help us then we would take all of our anger out on them. I think that Spain's police did a good job at what they are suppose to do but once you go out side that then they can't help you.
The Egyptian government is using there police force a lot because they are in the middle of a revolution. At all the major tourist attractions, there are at least 20 police. But when we are walking around they don't make me feel safe. There are still people that try to cheat you and give you fake money in exchange for egyptian pounds. Lastly there have been some attacks on tourist while they are traveling. When we were traveling there were army trucks at regular intervals, and we passed check points every 20 kilometers where there were armed guards. There were tanks driving along the road and stationed out side power plants and other important buildings. The Egyptians have a lot of police that do there job, but we are still in Egypt so there are people that try to rip us off.
The Americans spend a lot of money on defense, but there police force is not as showy as India's or Singapore's. The American police do not use automated speed traps like New Zealand. The Americans prefer to give out tickets personally. The American method does not apply justice uniformly. The police also teach us D.A.R.E. ( drug abuse resistance education) which teaches us about drugs, and alcohol. The police basically scare us to death with scary videos of people that took drugs and ended up dead. The other topics that they breeched was someone killing someone while they were still under the influence. My dad has gotten his tools stolen from him on multiple occasions. He reported them to the police and how the tools had his drivers license number etched into them. The police found one of the missing drills and returned it to him. Having his drill returned made my dad happy because it meant that the police were doing there job. The police in the US make me feel safe but they aren't everywhere dominating the street.
Bali is part of Indonesia. The amount of police interferences was minimal. The only action that I saw was the police pull over the scooter drivers to check if they had there driver license. Usually when you get a ticket in Bali you can negotiate with the cops for a better price.There were a few police stations but not many uniformed officers on the streets. Bali is vastly different from all the other country's because I did not see them around much except at the airport.
Greece is in a huge financial debt crises, but the police still do there job. There are lots of police out in the street of Athens were there have been recent protests. All the news says that the protesters are being violent and setting buildings on fire. But all the fires are on a different side of town from the protest and the government work buildings. Ron told me that there are protecters and the anarchists. The anarchists are burning buildings and creating havoc and the protecters are being peaceful. In Athens there is a general vandalism problem, on almost all the buildings no mater where you go the buildings have gotten tagged. When we were walking we saw the police rounding up people that looked a bit sketchy then they put them into a paddy wagon. While we were going to the airport, from the hotel I saw my first heroin addict. He was sticking himself with a dirty needle right on the street corner. In the square there were a few people that were out of there minds they were picking fights with each other. The police can not catch all of the drug addicts but they are clearly making an effort. There are just so many people taking drugs that the police can not catch all of them but they are main an effort. The police men in Greece do there job, they do not interfere with the protests, and they catch some of the people that take drugs and are hurting society.In a prefect world the police should be nice, approachable, but still do their job catching the criminals.
I think that New Zealand policed the best. They were efficient with there ticket giving, they all so seem helpful. I think that if the economy is good and most of the people are employed then it is easier to police. I have made that assumption because all the places that there were problems we're in country's that had a big un inployment rates. What I want in police is to be able to look them in the eye, to see them occasionally on patrol, and to have them interacting with society.Sorry no pictures, our Internet is really bad so I couldn't lode the pictures.
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