Security in France: A Thought on Differences

Submitted by Lindsay Kaslow on the 2016 fall semester study abroad program in Paris, France…

If you come from a small town (like I did), a cop sighting really isn’t a frequent occurrence.  Or perhaps, at UD, you see lots, but it’s usually just driving around in cars, standing at crosswalks or writing you parking tickets for some pretty trivial things.

I don’t know what kind of expectations I really had for police security before coming to Paris, but what I’ve known for most of my life was not what I found to be true here.

I saw them the very first day while walking through the airport: a squad of eight men, dressed fully in army combat uniforms, each one of them carrying a machine gun. It’s the Vigipirate Heightened Security plan.  They were walking slowly, watching everyone, and of course, everyone was watching them.  I heard murmurs, and some people stopped walking; when you’re travelling to a foreign country, you usually have a thousand other things on your mind, so something like this throws you a little off-guard.

As Americans, we’re not used to it.  Citizens’ licenses to own guns exist here, but there is no such thing as a license to carry – the only people you see with guns are police and military men, and they are always carrying some heavy-duty weapons.  It’s the French idea of protection and security after the terrorist attacks of the last two years.

The moment in the airport was definitely one that I will never forget, but it also set a tone for what was to come.  This standard of security is everywhere.  I see police standing in the Louvre, along the Christmas market at the Champs-Elysées, outside the Arc de Triomphe.  They walk past you in the streets of Montmartre and ride the trains with you in the métro.  They stand in Trocadero Plaza, looking at you while you look at the Eiffel Tower, and later they block off huge sections of streets in squads for an afternoon parade.  And every single one of them, no matter where or when you see them, has his/her machine gun.

Champs-Elysées
Champs-Elysées

Whether or not, this is the correct response to past events is not what I aim to answer here.  This is not to take a side in the divisive political matter of weapons nor bring into question constitutional rights.  My point is simply this: it was slightly jarring the first few times I saw what would become frequent spottings.  However, you grow accustomed to it, and, moreover, I have never felt scared or intimidated in these situations.  These men and women acknowledge your presence.  They smile at you, and if you wave, they’ll wave back.  They’ll stop and answer your questions and tell you to have a nice day as you go on your way.

They’re there to protect you.  As sad as it is that any sort of heavy protection is necessary, it’s true.  And even though it might take a little getting accustomed to, at the end of the day, it’s the same thing we’re all trying to do: protect ourselves, the ones we love and the things we care about.