It’s Police Week at Bucharest Life.
Having already brought to your attention the new hi-tech arm of Bucharest’s crime-fighting boys in blue, and the heartwarming case of a Calarasi policeman going out of his way to put a serious danger to society in hospital and off our streets, news reaches us today that the press officer of the Bucharest police force, Christian Ciocan, has taken the bold step of appointing himself as the new, all-powerful president of Romania.
In a statement to journalists asking awkward questions about some uncomfortable videos – showing a couple of Bucharest’s finest mysteriously sitting in their cars in the middle of the road, at night with the lights off* – Ciocan declared that filming policemen was now illegal. Not only that, but he said that ‘anyone who approaches a policeman while holding a mobile phone should think themselves lucky not to end up handcuffed.’
That’s right; showing real initiative in bypassing parliament and the usual law-making apparatus that is the hallmark of a democratic state, Ciocan has decided to simply make up his own laws.
Of course, nobody will take any notice, but then who takes any notice of the law in Romania anyway?
*As a postscript you might like to know that the chap who dared film the policemen sitting in their cars in the dark was arrested for jaywalking.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I think the law does indeed exist for the average person here. Small infractions are treated very seriously and the law is handed down quite heavily. All is black and white, there are no shades of grey like in Western countries. The Communist past shows its head everywhere in the bureaucracy, the lawmaking and the way the laws are enforced (when they are enforced that is as the rich and powerful go free in Romania). The average person is constantly under threat by the “authorities”. I have never been in a place where I seem to lose more money to the government and for what? For the EU’s second poorest country this is surprising. Life here should be a lot cheaper than it is. Everything is out of whack. Public Transportation is very cheap for example but then if they take your car the fine is more than it would be in America. Why can’t Romania just be normal?
Very true, the law doesn’t really exist in Romania, life is more like a perpetuous negotiation…