A policewoman in Holland
Reflections of bitter experience had made me not like the police, soldiers, or any law enforcement officer, because instead of keeping the peace and preserving social order, many used the uniform to dominate, intimidate, and abuse the power bestowed upon them.
Many people likely get enrolled in the police service to cause harm to other people or to steal from the weak and the vulnerable. As a traveler, adventurer, and writer, I traveled extensively in Africa.
A VISIT TO AFRICAN COUNTRIES
Every country I visited has its story. Painful stories and brutalities at the hands of law enforcement officers. In Nigeria, an immigration officer slapped me across the face several times and, at the end of it, took all my money from my pocket.
In Lagos, two armed men in police uniform kidnapped me just to steal my money. After the plan failed, they beat me up mercilessly and pushed me out of a moving vehicle.
Instead of protection, I suffered at the hands of law enforcement officers to the extent that I lost confidence in them, but an incident that took place in Amsterdam changed the negative perception and thinking I had about the police to like them forever.
Instead of protection, I suffered at the hands of law enforcement officers to the extent that I lost confidence in them, but an incident that took place in Amsterdam changed the negative perception and thinking I had about the police to like them forever.
A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE WITH A POLICEWOMAN IN AMSTERDAM
It was winter, and very dark. On my way to work, I was stopped by a group of traffic police officers who were arresting cyclists with faulty lights. They have arrested over a dozen, issuing them fines to pay. I couldn’t escape when one of the officers, a woman, stopped me. I got off my bicycle, and she inspected my lights. The front light was faulty.
She looked at my face, then said something I wasn’t expecting: “You know? I don’t want to issue you a ticket. Try to fix it tomorrow before passing on this route.” While she was interacting with me, her colleague, a male police officer, was watching us and wondering what we were talking about instead of issuing me a fine to pay.
The policewoman asked me to leave as quickly as possible, but by then it was too late; her male colleague was catching up to us, so I told her, “Your curious colleague is coming; there is no way I can flee because he is now close behind us.” The male police officer asked her why the a delay in issuing a fine because my front light is faulty.”
The ‘Good Samaritan policewoman’ said to him, “His rear
light is in order, but the front one, he is not aware that is faulty. I asked
him to fix it tomorrow.”
Her male colleague didn’t say anything, and he walked
away. Then the policewoman told me to leave, but I shouldn’t ride the bicycle.
I obeyed her instructions and went away. Luckily enough, I
was just a few meters from the workplace, ‘The Okura Hotel.’ What
transpired shocked me both physically and psychologically, so that I have loved the
police till now.
Whenever I see any policewoman, this bicycle story not only comes into my mind, but I also love them too.
Many times, people judge the police wrongly and say all
sorts of dirty things against them, but some are very nice indeed.