Human Flower Project

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Cops & Flowers

Stories from Greece, South Africa, and the U.S. suggest that flowers and law enforcement don’t mix.

Image: Government

of Thailand

Billy clubs, safety whistles, mace, and holsters, yes. But flowers, no—they don’t come to mind when we think of policing.

And three recent stories indicate that boys (and girls) with shiny badges had best stay clear of anything floral while on the job. In Cape Town, a couple has rebuffed a bouquet—the peace offering from local police. Allegedly, police came banging on the door in the middle of the night, were given entry, and then proceeded to harass the couple, demanding the whereabouts of “Bernard.”

“I told them two men by the name of Bernard had lived there before we became the new homeowners,” said one of the residents. “But they would not understand. They were rude and forced us to put our hands on a machine,” apparently a “Morphe Touche” machine, used to collect fingerprints.

Police offered an apology, R2 000 (to repair damaged burglar bars), and flowers, but the couple refused to make-up. In South Africa, as in many other places, giving and accepting flowers indicate that a hostile social relation is simmering down, and this pair (rather understandably) prefers to stay on Hot St.. They’ve filed a formal complaint against the department.

In Portland, Oregon, a sheriff’s deputy has resigned and pled guilty to a charge of harassment. He allegedly stopped several women drivers, then asked them to “lift up their shirts, unzip their pants and unhook their bras so he could look for a flower tattoo,” claiming he was looking for a tattooed suspect. One of the women pressed charges. When did we stop id-ing by names, drivers’ license numbers and photos? “Officer, my face is a flower. Does it look like your suspect?”

And in Thessaloniki, Greece,  police are blaming a political protestor’s injuries on a flower pot. Last Friday, students marched in the city to mark the 33rd anniversary of a bloody uprising against Greece’s then-dictatorship. Something sent Avgoustinos Dimitriou to the hospital. Several faculty members of the local university say undercover police beat Dimitriou; “The police said that the 24-year-old Cypriot national sustained his injuries when he tripped and fell against a scooter and a large flower pot.”

An editorial by Pantelis Boukalas in today’s Kathimerini notes: “There has always been a problem with flower pots in this country, particularly in Thessaloniki: They tend to take on a life of their own and do not obey rules set by those who place them on sidewalks or balconies…. Let it be said that a hostile motorcycle parked nearby came to the flower pot’s aid in tripping up the hapless student.” Boukalas points out that video footage (shades of Rodney King) has vindicated the flower pot.

Perhaps our friends in law enforcement would do well to refrain from human flower projects till after hours.