Of course this story has a classic Belgian ingredient: the rise was delayed because the police hadn't updated something or another on their computers.
These fines are issued for stuff like failing to indicate, parking in a disabled bay, crossing the white line, etc (all of which I thought were actually compulsory in Brussels). I got stopped once by a copper in Cornwall for crossing the white line. I hadn't actually done so, but I suppose for a rural plod based in the back of beyond the sight of a youngish guy at the wheel of a Chevy Camaro is too much to resist and so he pulled me over anyway. He must have been really disappointed to discover that all my papers were in order, but I still got points on my licence and a fine anyway. I didn't bother to contest it in court, because you can never win.
And the police wonder why the public have a negative view of them!
On the subject of policing, I turned the news on yesterday to see some sobbing 17 year old girl apologising for offensive tweeting. She is, apparently, a 'youth police commissioner'. My first thought was that this was some sort of late April Fool's joke, but it is actually true.
Are they mad?
What the bloody hell goes on in the minds of those people tasked with running our police forces? She is a 17 year old girl, not a bloody police commissioner. What next? Perhaps we should have a dog in charge. Chief Superintendent Rover, or something. Or perhaps they could take a leaf out the Athenian's book, and let everybody be in charge for one day.
To answer my own question, yes. Those who the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. If anybody seriously thinks that taking a child out of school and pretending that she can be a police commissioner is a good idea, then they should be retired on health grounds.
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