Thursday, May 04, 2006

Roller Police


It may sound surprising to come across a policeman "on wheels" in a big city like Paris and though now we're used to it... This special roller brigade was originally meant to monitor the huge roller rides that I already showed you here, but now they are just "normal" policemen that give tickets and chase outlaws throughout the streets of Paris. They look cool, but they are not really.

37 comments:

  1. They could use wheels, skate, car or bicycle but the ticket when your parking time expires for a little is there!

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  2. They sure do look cool! (How do you post a whistle on a blog, again?) Thanks for the warning, Eric!

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  3. What do you mean, "they're not really" Eric? Are they jerks on blades?

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  4. Oh, this leads to an entire list of questions: Do they jump barrels? Is there an "official" French police in-line skate? Is there an age limit for a Roller Cop? Are there female Roller Cops and are they known as the Rollettes? I could go on, but maybe Michael will pick it up from here. LOL - I bet the other cops razz them to no end!

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  5. Luggi - maybe they're Blade Runners.

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  6. Well he's got a nice backside anyways! Thanks, eric!

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  7. Salut Eric. Well...I would say.. a policeman is a policeman !! I wonder why there is no " policemen on horses "( not very nice English !)like in Canada for example. A nice day to everybody here.

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  8. haha, i'd love to see him skate the ramp in front of notre dame before busting all the riff raff!

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  9. Oh! Actually, Croquette, I saw policemen on horseback in Paris on April 19th. Riding down rue de Rivoli. Really! I was very surprised!

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  10. Oh, Eric! You gave me such a laugh; a nice way to start the morning.

    I haven't seen these guys, yet, but I'll keep an eye out. They can't be nearly as grumpy as the traditional French policeman!

    Now... if you can just catch one doing a trick... that would be something!

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  11. I love it!! I've seen them in Paris..."the Rollerblading Flics.." I called them. I remember many years ago I was a little out of it and started going in the exit at Sainte-Chapelle and an enormous Cop came walking towards me saying "BONJOUR" quite loudly and being a friendly Californian I said "Oh Bonjour..." like I knew him. It took a minute to realize something wasn't right, but when I did..we actually both started laughing. Oh those Parisian cops..what a bunch of cut-ups ehhh?? Merci! kpgallant

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  12. Midnitebara: you've changed your picture again! Is that a yellow teaddy bear? Very cute!

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  13. Croquette > there is policemen on horse in Paris!!

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  14. hehe, once, one of them was hitting on me and showing off on his rollerblades, smiling at me and trying to do something "cool" with his rollerblades, and he fell down on the ground, that was so funny

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  15. "They look cool, but they are not really."

    Your finish made me laugh really hard Eric =)

    We do have some mountainbikepolice and some klippeti-kloppeti-klappeti Police in Stockholm (thats Policemen on horse for you others =D) but I´ve never seen this.

    Where is his helmet if he´s a lawbiding officer by the way? =)

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  16. Cool photo. Why aren't the roller blading police cool? LOL!

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  17. I think Éric means that they act like any other police, and you don't want to mess with them. They sure do stay fit, though!

    We have bicycle police in the summer here in Montréal.

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  18. I think he looks very cool - but he must be limited in what he can do - imagine him trying to chase someone and that person runs off the road into the woods. (OK there are no woods in Paris - never mind!)

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  19. this is one of your best Eric...esp the punch line.

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  20. So when a "bad guy" plans a robbery he tries to stay close to gravel roads and paths.



    http://kansascitydailyphoto.blogspot.com/

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  21. I guess they are the opposite of NY cops, who are polite but might really mess you up if you do something they are not happy with -- in Paris they are grumpy but not really dangerous...
    L

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  22. > Nuno. Very true!

    > Tomate. Do you whistle at cops in SF like that?!

    > Luggi. I think they suffer from an inferiority complex and that they play it tough just to show that it's not because they are on rollerblades that they should not be respected.

    > Lissa. Glad you like this photo. It's actually the second time that I show them here.

    > Blondetown. 1) I doubt it! 2) I don't know. 3) Yes, you mustr be between 18 and 26. AND, you must be at least 1,68 meter tall if you're a man or 1,60 meter tall if you're a woman. 4) Yes, les "rollerbladeuses"(just kidding, but yes there are women). Michael seems to be in Germany at the moment so, no additionnal puns...

    > Midnitebara. Love you're new photo...

    > Markandrew. Well, no, they are very serious. No candid camera there...

    > Soosha. Welcome!

    > Croquette. There is a horse brigade and I showed it here at the very beginning of this blog

    > Barista brat. Yeah. Well I don't think they do that!

    > Buzzgirl. yes, you're right, I alwys see them in this neighbourhood, I don't know why.

    > Mrs B. ;) There are 40 of them apparently so they're hard to spot!

    > KPGallant. Well, I suppose they are told not to be too tough on tourists.

    > Tomate. I agree.

    > Julien. You're right, just like in London...

    > Heloise. So much for his macho pride... Poor guy.

    > Arno. Franchement on ne voit pas grand chose à ce niveau là...

    > Alex. I am glad I made you laugh. One good laugh a day keeps the doctor away... interesting quetsion about the Helmet actually. I don't know.

    > Carol. Cause they act like "real" policemen!

    > Lagatta. Yep, that is exactly what I meant! We have bicycle one too.

    > Jenny. Yes they are limited but they can chase people quicker in the streets of Paris.

    > Dev. Thanks.

    > Lorethian. Well, there are only 40 of them so bad guys have little risks to be chased by them. They are more after car drivers actually...

    > Brian & Lucy. They are French, so as such they have a blurry appreciation of the law.Not like in the US - from what I experienced - although once, when I was young, I was stopped driving on a highway at 110 mph in the States (we were 5 students - 4 French 1 American). When the cop stopped us we all spoke with a very heavy French accent and told the guy that we did not know that the speed limit was 55, bla bla. And it worked!

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  23. Great shot! I wonder how many tickets he gives a day?

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  24. I sent in a post to your blog today, but it hasn't shown up?? Maybe I sent it to someone else! Oh dear!!

    It was all about saying yet again how weird it is to relive my time in Paris with the memories your images and words evoke.

    I remember spending a Friday evening at La Place d’Italie watching everyone getting ready for the start and seeing these rollerblade police showing off as much as some of the other so called experts. Great atmosphere.

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  25. wow eric....you're lucky that you didn't get a ticket taking this picture!

    :-)

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  26. This kind of thing just wouldn't work in the states. No one would take a cop on rollerblades seriously, especially not his fellow cops. =)

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  27. I have seen cops photos in just about any transportation, but this is the first time I see them on roller blades. I will post some cop photos from Central America in AntiguaGuatemalaDailyPhoto pretty soon. Cops use 4x4 pickup trucks here.

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  28. Tomate....

    Somehow I don't think that THIS is what you were trying to do.

    Eric, were you skating behind them to keep this shot in focus?

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  29. Thanks, Michael. Maybe not that kind of whistle :)

    Eric: Do you whistle at cops in SF like that?! Good point! And then, again, it all depends on the circumstances I supppose :-)

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  30. BTW Eric, have you noticed your policeman was about to jump over a "gendarme-couché" ?
    Another episode of "La Guerre des polices" ?…

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  31. My bro was one of them, among the first ones, like 6 ou 7 years ago. He moved south where there aren't any rollers (yet). And he is moving again somewhere btw Africa and Madagascar, so there won't be roller cops there for sure. Thongs cops maybe...

    They are cool. They are pretty popular, lots of people want to take pictures with them. They are mainly in the touristics parts of the city. So it gives a cool image of the city to tourists and they can patrol in pedestrian areas (where pickpockets and pull and run thieves are common). They can be very fast, and it must be very difficult to get away from them.

    They train a lot, including stunts, steps, jumps. My bro almost did not know how to skate when he enrolled in the service. They patrol all day long on skates. You get fit! Every cop can try to get into the brigad, but there is a selection of course.

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  32. N'y a-t-il pas moye d'avoir le site en français ?

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  33. salut eric.je suis un de ces flics à rollers...et même, je suis celui que tu as photographié...si tu veux, pour ton blog, je veux bien te filer une photo de moi...mais de face cette fois!ahahah...bon, à bientôt peut-être...si tu croise à nouveau la brigade rollers, demande à voir David...c'est moi.

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  34. Bonjour David,

    Et bien écoute, avec plaisir. Si tu es OK pour que je te prenne en photo de face cette fois, ecris-moi à eric (et) parisdailyphoto.com.

    Ca serait assez marrant ;)

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