Author: Wu Deguang Born in Chaozhou, Guangzhou in 1938, graduated from the Foreign Affairs Academy in 1965, and was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the same year, successively serving as a staff member of the Department of Protocol, a staff member of the Consulate General in Karachi, a deputy director of the State Guest Reception Office of the Department of Protocol, a first secretary of the Embassy in Japan, the chief of protocol, and one of the leading members of the department, the first Consul General of China in Kuching.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Americans were worried about this day and talked about it. However, Americans have different feelings about the "911" phone number, which is closely related to people's daily lives. Because "911" is the most famous police emergency hotline in the United States. People are familiar with it, need it, depend on it.
On July 26, 2001, the author and his wife flew from Beijing to the United States to visit their daughter and son-in-law. Before coming to the United States, in the author's impression, Americans were afraid of the police, whether it was criminal police, traffic police, or police officers performing other tasks. With pistols pinned to their waists and batons in their hands, they chased fugitives in police cars; Or you can't prevent it, pop up anytime, anywhere, and catch up with overtakers at a faster speed. Even with policewomen, people seem to be afraid. The fines she issued were just as ruthless. Through the media and movies, the American police are always majestic, wielding batons and firing guns at every turn. The police became a symbol of authority.
However, during my stay in the United States, through hearing and witnessing, the author has a completely different and new understanding of the American police: Americans cannot do without "911" in their daily lives, and they cannot do without the police. From the macro perspective of the sinister crime of the United States, the United States is a country that cannot do without the police. Although people there are relatively strict with social order, people's dependence on the police on a daily basis is unprecedented. There is a proliferation of guns and frequent incidents, which has long been a hot spot for terrorist activities in the world. The police are fully armed at all times in case of accidents. Ordinary people call "911" to report crimes or ask the police for help anytime, anywhere.
The police are ready to fight criminals, facing danger, life and death are commonplace. Therefore, the police there also talked about "heroism" and "patriotism". As part of the state apparatus, they advocate the spirit of martial arts more than the police of other countries, and it is self-evident that they talk about dedication. However, this does not mean that the United States police are only responsible for hunting down terrorists and criminals, arresting robbers and drug traffickers, dealing with endless traffic accidents, etc., as if their tasks are limited to major and important cases. In fact, their main job is to maintain order in people's daily lives. If you avoid people's disputes in daily life, it is dereliction of duty. So no matter what difficulties you encounter, even if it's a trivial dispute, as long as you call the "911" police number, they have to be dispatched and dealt with. There are many anecdotes about them.
My daughter is a Ph.D. student at Illinois State University. The Illinois Daily News is available free of charge on college campuses, and newspapers report almost daily news messages about police policing. For example, on August 30, the author read a text message in the daily newspaper: A 44-year-old woman stole a bottle of whiskey and a box of frozen shrimp from a supermarket and was arrested by the police; The next day, newspapers reported that 11 minors who had drunk and rioted on the campus of Illinois State University were summoned by police to list more.
The author has the habit of exercising in the morning. Early one morning, I was walking alone on a green field far from where I lived. Unexpectedly, a few minutes later a police car drove up to me, and the police got out of the car and asked if I needed help. I smiled and said, "No need! "The police car drove away. This kind of service can really be called "star" service. Another memorable scene: before 10 p.m., a warning came from the police car: "This park has passed its closing time, please leave as soon as possible." "The police didn't care about everything, I really didn't expect it.
There is a Chinese idiom: "It is difficult for a Qing official to decide family affairs." "However, the American police are in charge of the house. A "civil war" broke out in a friend's house, the husband and his wife escalated, the man could not bear it, and finally raised his fist to fight, and the beaten wife was angry, called the "911" police, applied to the police for a "restraining order", evicted her husband, and prevented her husband from approaching her home. This was a very successful move, and as soon as her husband approached her, the police car came to arrest her with flashing lights. Later, the woman demanded reconciliation and had to pay bail in advance before the police allowed her husband to return home.
Not only that, but small things like driving roosters, bats and opossums from their homes and keeping residents safe are also the duties of the American police.
Look at! A policeman with a pistol pinned to his waist is chasing a rooster and trying to drive it out of a family's lawn. According to the household's complaint, the policeman's rooster burst into his house and disturbed him. The police immediately arrived to drive the rooster back to protect the tranquility of the residential house.
Coincidentally, the author read another news in the "Illinois Journal": "A homeowner woke up early in the morning to find a bat flying around his bedroom, and he immediately called the police." The police went to great lengths to capture it and let the bat fly away on the campus of the state university. ”
My daughter also told me something she had experienced. One evening, she came home from campus, and when she went upstairs, she suddenly found an animal lying on the stairs, with a fierce shape, she did not dare to approach it or go upstairs, and soon called the police from a neighbor's house. After a while, two burly policemen arrived. In a moment they used their batons to drive the animal away. I also wished my daughter good luck when I left. Later, my daughter learned that it was a unique animal that grew in the Americas, the opossum.
The U.S. police are not "accommodating" in carrying out their duties. It is said that a friend was stopped by the police one day when he violated a driving violation in the United States, and when the police were about to issue a ticket, the friend saw that there was no one around, so he leaned forward and whispered: "I will give you 80 yuan, can you not open this ticket, let me go!" When the police heard this, instead of giving him a smile, they shackled him and thoroughly searched the inside of his car. Friends talk about "accommodation", which invites greater disaster. The ticket is issued and the punishment accompanies it. In the United States, traffic offenders are fined wearing orange traffic sign vests to pick up waste on the side of highways; Others were sent to hospital morgues to bathe the dead. Still, the police don't always have to be the winners, and you can argue with them because that's your right.
During my stay in the United States, the author really felt Americans' dependence on the "911" police call, and saw the variety of pictures that the American police must come out when they heard the police, which was really refreshing.
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Article Source | "A Historic Moment"
Author | Wu Deguang Photo | Internet
Edit | The diplomat said something Qingyan