Enlarge Cartoon

I was hunting for background information on the tense relations between the heads of Vaud’s police and gendarmerie, as reported by Le Matin and 24 Heures, when I came across a web site that gave me paws pause. It is a site for the Vaud gendarmerie’s dog unit, but what makes it so special is its English pages. First, hats off to them for caring enough about their work to want to share it with a larger audience by creating English pages.

But the English is sometimes startling.

“Switzerland is share of 23 states. Each state has its own State Police. The State Police is the surpreme authority. City Police Forces have only limited skills and are dependant of the State Police. In a number of citizens, Vaud is the third more populated state of the country. And it’s the fourth largest state in surface.”

Okay, so now we know who the supreme authority is, but I was momentarily lost when I read “En 2006, In the State of Vaud, Police K-9 were 2’111 committed, so 5.8 per day.”

And then: “By its location and its neutrality, Switzerland does not only attract many tourists, but unfortunately also many doubtful organizations and people. Switzerland is also attractive for number of criminals coming of eastern Europe or France who come in our country to commit burglaries.”

Oh those French!

But never mind bumpy language, when I got to the memorial page, language no longer mattered and I had only thoughts of praise for the police officer who cared enough to write these pages: “By clicking the arrow below, you will reach a page telling interventions which were fatal to our friends in four paws. I should admit that the creation of this page gave me a lot of emotion and reflection. I often should interrupt the editorial  to assure me that my companion, who were sleeping peacefully near the fireplace, was well alive and I could not refrain from sending him long and tender caresses.”

I began to like these dogs and their handlers so much that I’m now tempted by the criminal life, for apparently this is the best way to meet them.

Official police site

Vaud K-9

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.