I think its time you asked Macron for an explanation. He seems to have inherited all the answers from his predecessor Hollande.
Dont you feel safer knowing the French Govt is making sure GA is not a portal for Terrorists?
Yes I am being sarcastic in case anyone missed it.
One might ask why some “modern” European countries have developed such a dysfunctional police force… Probably something to do with a perceived lack of a need for an effective one. That in turn could be because that country naturally doesn’t have trouble, or it could be they have been sweeping trouble under the carpet.
The stuff going on today in the world is going to bring a lot of changes but, because you can’t improve things at all quickly, there will be a lot of kneejerk reactions and a lot of high profile ineffective stuff done for public consumption.
… Meanwhile, our Customs & Immigration Services have been completely removed
Go figure …
chflyer wrote:
How does Toussus-le-Noble really qualify as one of the “largest airports” in France and therefore needing GTA presence? Sounds like a pretty loose definition to me.
Agreed.
It’s a huge waste of police ressources, not to mention millions in funds.
Michael wrote:
Another example is Toussus le Noble
How does Toussus-le-Noble really qualify as one of the “largest airports” in France and therefore needing GTA presence? Sounds like a pretty loose definition to me. I guess it means all airports except the single airport being the smallest one. ;-)
A low tailwheel hours pilot in our Jodel Group went off the runway on landing in nil wind. The low experience ATC had never handled an accident before. He did everything correctly, but also notified the police, which is not required for such accidents.
When I arrived, the aircraft was with the maintenance firm, but the pilot had disappeared.
After wandering around with the SATCO, I spotted him in the police car.
The police officer told us we were being arrested for obstructing him in the course of his duty when we tapped on the window and refused to go away. We stood our ground, and he eventually backed down.
After a negative breath test, for over an hour the pilot ( a forensic psychologist) had been questioned as to why he had lost control, despite the engineer saying there was no fault with the aircraft. He didn’t know. (PIO) 
MedEwok wrote:
AFAIK we don’t have a dedicated aviation police in Germany.
No, there is none. Luckily. To the point that it can actually be difficult to get a policeman to visit a smaller airport terminal. Since some time there are these explosive tests at the security gate. Triggered by an algorithm (which obviously changes on a frequent base) from the number of beeps of the body scanner and an element of randomness. Another algorithm will then trigger a (false) positive result of the explosive test every now and then. Whenever that happens, the security gate gets blocked and the police is called for further investigations including questioning the person who triggered the alarm.
Only that at my homebase airport the police forces have been cut to a level at which they don’t regard the general aviation terminal as part of their area of competence any longer. So any policeman in range will be sent to the GA terminal, often normal “street police” from the adjacent motorway, in such a case which can take – and it does take! – 20-30 minutes. During which time half of your passengers will be standing in front of the security check and half of them behind and you will be busy on the phone delaying flight plans and extending airport slots…
On the road it is even worse (or better, depending on the point of view). The last time I got into a police control while driving must be over ten years ago. You can get away with almost anything now while driving as long as you don’t cause an accident or trigger a speed trap. So no. Where I live we are definitely not over-policed.
AFAIK we don’t have a dedicated aviation police in Germany. The Bundespolizei (federal police force ) is responsible for airports, while the Zoll (customs) deals with customs. So far I only had one encounter with them, at Hannover Airport. All they needed was my ID and license. Since I am still a student pilot, I didn’t even have that. But the checks took only a minute anyways.
Actually my OP was directed towards general Aviation police, not customs & immigrations, which are a whole ’nother subject !
In fact, the Customs & Immigration situation in the Paris area is a classic example of grossly under-served.
I suppose that since the vast majority of GA Pilots are law-abiding citizens they very rarely have any contact with the aviation police authorities – and THAT is exactly my point : The actual NEED for a specialized police dedicated to Aviation is hugely over estimated.
An interesting discussion here is the likely motivation that drives this.
There have already been lots of posts on EuroGA about the French situation and one funny one is here. Based on what I have seen myself I would say that resonates perfectly
The UK situation is IMHO not the same in that the police here seem a bit more competent and I think the reason the GAR situation is maintained is pure job protection.
