An armed presence

Walking home on my nine-mile peregrination of the center of Paris, I passed by a dozen or so French and other government buildings, and the thing I was struck by was the level of -heavily- armed police security in view.  The Parisian police force is apparently a paramilitary force … heavy boots, thick and visible bulletproof vests, 9mm pistols, automatic long guns, and gods only know what else.  

I have watched the United States municipal police forces “saddle up,” especially over the last decade, but this is almost like an occupation army.  The citizenry, however, is courteous to the officers, and, are assisted helpfully in return.  They have never ceased to treat this obviously-a-tourist person courteously when I stopped to ask for directions or to verify a specific building’s identity on my map.

The police manning the barricades cordoning off Notre Dame were polite and unyielding to the streams of tourists wanting to get near the wounded church, turning them away, giving directions to other viewing sites.  

Still it’s a strange sensation to see such an armed presence in so sophisticated a city.