I have realized that whenever I see a police officer here I tend to be on my best behavior. In the car I will sit up straight, arrange my hands in the 10-to-2 position on the steering wheel, and proceed in careful observance of the speed limit. And in person I might make a show of picking up some litter or helping an old lady across the street, hoping for a nod of approval from the officer for my public service.
Why do I do this? In the UK I was appropriately law-abiding, but wasn't so eager to please those enforcing the laws. Maybe policing is done differently here, and is more effective at gaining respect?
Certainly the US police seem somewhat cooler than their UK counterparts. Names like LAPD and NYPD give a strong identity, even if they sound slightly like a venereal disease. American police cars are all gravitas as they patrol the streets, while the British police busy about in their Vauxhall Cavaliers.
In my mind, in the UK there will always be "bobbies": a bit paunchy, a bit "ello ello what's goin' on 'ere then", and a bit prone to wearing improbably tall hard hats. Whereas in the US there will be, by contrast, "cops", with their guns, swagger and aviator sunglasses.
I had occasion to meet a couple of Los Angeles police officers recently (purely in a social context, you understand), and they were quite normal - probably no different to the men and women on the beat in London and Manchester. The names are different - more Carlos and Brent, than Nigel and Darren - but their outlook, manner (and, yes, their paunches) are familiar.
So whether there really is any difference in the quality of policing, or whether it is the glamorizing portrayal of the police in US movies and TV, it seems to work on the likes of me. It must be quite a relief to the authorities, as they combat drug trafficking and gang warfare, to know that the middle-class Englishmen will stay in order.
In my mind, in the UK there will always be "bobbies": a bit paunchy, a bit "ello ello what's goin' on 'ere then", and a bit prone to wearing improbably tall hard hats. Whereas in the US there will be, by contrast, "cops", with their guns, swagger and aviator sunglasses.
I had occasion to meet a couple of Los Angeles police officers recently (purely in a social context, you understand), and they were quite normal - probably no different to the men and women on the beat in London and Manchester. The names are different - more Carlos and Brent, than Nigel and Darren - but their outlook, manner (and, yes, their paunches) are familiar.
So whether there really is any difference in the quality of policing, or whether it is the glamorizing portrayal of the police in US movies and TV, it seems to work on the likes of me. It must be quite a relief to the authorities, as they combat drug trafficking and gang warfare, to know that the middle-class Englishmen will stay in order.
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