George Lewis, Master of Human Technology Interaction, is surprised by the friendliness of the Dutch police. In his homeland Egypt a policeman, according to Lewis, is 'a big aggressive man who catches the criminals'. (Lewis prefers not to comment on the present turmoil in Egypt and the role of the police.) Recently he had to go to the police station in Eindhoven in order to report the theft of his bike. "I was shocked to see nice smiling women. A policewoman took the report and she was very nice. And another one offered me something to drink." He wonders: why are the police in the Netherlands so nice?

Jordi Cebrian, press officer of the Brabant South-East police, cannot but smile when hearing this question. He thinks it is mostly to do with George Lewis's own frame of reference. "In the Netherlands we have certain manners and the police observes those manners as well. The police training program does not include any specific instruction that says 'be nice'. It does say: be nice as long as the situation permits this, so that point definitely does get covered."

The Communication department where Cebrian works also gives presentations to police officers emphasizing that as such they are the 'visiting card' of the police, so that they must consequently behave correctly. Still, Cebrian thinks that it is mainly a question of generally accepted etiquette. (SK)