Wednesday, March 24, 2010

About feeling extremely safe... most of the time

Here in Cairo it is really obvious, but last October (2009) when we were in Hurghada it was obvious as well. Egypt takes its law enforcement really serious.

Everywhere you go, you're bound to see policemen taking care of... well you. Look closely and you'll see different kinds of policemen. Some are just plain police, they're typically recognized by the fact that they have no real distinctive signs on their uniform. They're just wearing a uniform in the universal police color, blue. And I have no idea why everywhere in the world, the police is wearing blue uniforms, although they're actually not in Germany, and probably not in many other countries as well. So maybe blue isn't that universal. Anyway, I'm getting off topic here.
Besides the regular policemen, you'll see some trainees, they're recognizable by the lack of big guns. The other day I saw some with StarWars light-sabres kind off weapons, which were very much resembling the ones you can buy at Toys-R-Us to be honest. The regular police is packing big guns, automatic, wooden grip, might be AK47, although I haven't heard any go off, and from the movies I know that the AK47 makes a very distinctive sound. Which movie was that? That's righ, Full Metal Jacket. One of the best Vietnam movies.
When you're taking part of traffic, i.e. you're in a car as pedestrians aren't really considered to be part of traffic. They're just surviving going from one sidewalk to another. So when you're part of traffic, you need to be aware of traffic police. But just for wearing your seatbelt and when you're driving you're not allowed to talk on the phone. Here the see no evil, hear no evil paradigm is important to keep in mind. For example, my driver lowers his phone when in eye-sight of a policeman, and he throws his seatbelt like a lasso around the handbreak as soon as we're entering an erea with a high policeman density. I guess that fines are serious enough for people to pretend that they care about their life and don't want to die in a traffic accident. And trust me, people die here in traffic accidents... or while waiting for the ambulance to take them to a hospital for that matter. By the way, the police nor the drivers here in Cairo care about speedlimits, tailgating, unnecessary honking or not turning on you head lights at night.
There's obviously the millitairy police, the MP, which you don't see that often, although here in Maadi you see them quite a bit. They take in many cases care of the diplomats in Maadi, especially around embassies. The MP, so I've been told, is not really involved in normal life here in Cairo. You can pretty much ignore them.

Most interesting is the 'Tourist Police', which I thought were just a bunch of people that were offered a job to lower unemployment rate. The tourist police is not around to fine tourists, or to lock them up for stealing remains of mummies from the pyramids. They don't carry guns I think, but that is maybe because they're too sophisticated. I've been told, that the tourist police is actually sort of a elite. They have had more training, including speaking common foreign languages. They are specific to an area in Cairo and know more about the area than regular policemen, especially when it comes to touristy things, like the whereabouts of landmarks and such.

So when you're in Cairo you're bound to see a lot of police, most will carry guns, big guns. Serious stuff with lots of bullets. Big bullets. But all to protect you, being not a policeman. Only in traffic, they're not protecting you. In many cases they are busy taking care of themselves, trying not to get hit by a swerving taxi. Many of these gun-packing policemen seem trustworthy when it comes to their gun. But there are plenty I'd rather see without a gun.

So, you can feel really safe here in Cairo. Really.

Iwan

PS: Sofar I have to admit, that Cairo seems to me being one of the safest cities I've been. Never have I felt threatened or did I worry. You're totally good when passing a group of youngsters minding their own business, which they have no intention to making your business. Something I can't say about New York City, Amsterdam, Berlin or Singapore. Even in Almere you don't feel at ease when passing a group of youngsters as they often behave like a pack of wolves. Nope, sofar I feel really safe in Cairo.

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