Police in Britain have a wide remit they are relationship counsellors, playground attendants, debt advisers, dispute invigilators and speaking clocks, called to resolve anything from a flooded street to a neighbour playing music late at night.
Matt Lloyd-Rose deserves credit for serving as a volunteer in the Met, but his findings suggest that current policing only deepens the conflict it seeks to end
Only 20% of the French police's work is dealing with crime. Their real job is maintaining whatever the ruling powers have decided should be the prevailing social order. Hence the current reaction to the creeping expansion of police powers.