Professionalism should be applauded

I make a certain journey often enough to almost call it a regular commute. Twice along this journey the National Police have conducted document checks imposed on a random selection of drivers. The first time it happened I was one of those excused from examination, but the second time a different officer was in charge of selection. He took one look at me and I could see plainly what he was thinking by the expression on his face.

I am a foreigner driving my classic Jaguar Sovereign, which is a nice car, albeit somewhat aged in the tooth. His expression asked the question: what are you doing driving this car?

I stopped where indicated, shut down the engine and produced the documents required, even follow-up documents to the ones that should have given them comfort that all was in order. The particular officer was having some difficulty in accepting that nothing was out of place, but eventually he did, apparently to the slight embarrassment of the officer who held my documents, because he actually said, "Lo siento" when handing my documents back.

Ironically, that same day I drove into the parking lot at the Estacion del Tren Norte in Valencia city. I parked and realised that a vagrant and his girlfriend were taking undue notice in my car and I was reluctant to walk away from it. The time was 4:45pm and I didn't notice that four National Police had entered the vicinity and to them I was acting suspiciously by staring at the two people and by taking steps towards them.

The police came up to me and demanded my identification, which I promptly surrendered to them all the while explaining that I thought I had a problem with the vagrants. They checked out my documents and apparently they were speaking to the same person who confirmed my documents in the morning. What has he done now? Where you about 100 klms away this morning, I was asked. Yes, I was and your colleagues stopped me to check my documents in a routine stop.

Seems this is your lucky day, stated the officer. (Smiles all round.)

However, the reason they had arrived at the train station was due to the fact that fifteen minutes earlier in London a lone terrorist had struck down several people ending in the deaths of four, including himself, plus injury to about 40 others.

I find the security forces in Spain to all perform to a very high standard of professionalism in any dealings I have had with any of the branches, but I would much prefer to be on the same side as they rather than on the wrong side.

Just to be able to say that makes this a wonderful country to be living in.

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael