Compared to most Europeans, the Swiss are law-abiding to a fault, rendering even the minimal police presence superfluous. There’s only a small force of plain-clothes federal police (Polizei, police, polizia), since most police duties are managed by the cantonal authorities, all of which maintain uniformed, armed police. Towns and cities also have their own armed police, operating in conjunction with the cantonal force.
It’s very rare you’ll even see a police officer in Switzerland, although you may come across one or two directing the traffic. Nonetheless, Swiss police are nothing of a soft touch, and have drawn recent approbation from Amnesty International for their heavy-handed approach to foreigners, asylum seekers and Swiss citizens of non-European descent in particular, with random street searches and “unjustified use of violence” cited.
If you do come into contact with the police, they’ll want to see your passport, which you’re obliged to carry at all times. Ordinary traffic offences will be dealt with swiftly and courteously – as long as you pay the fine – although police officers, especially outside the cities, may not speak any English and so, should there be any disputes, they may insist you accompany them to the nearest police station to have all the necessaries explained.
If you’re unfortunate enough to be robbed you should always go to the nearest police station to get a report filled out (you’ll need it for your insurance if nothing else). It may take hours to complete all the paperwork required.
On the other hand, as across Europe, recently we have seen in the news the racial discrimination, because in those countries exist people with xenophobia; in Switzerland specially, the people can’t stand Latin-American people because our cultural differences, language, skin color, and all the essence of Latin’s.
Finally, we can say that Swiss people are kind and friendly because it culture, even its policies are work in many activities such as the car traffic; but they are seen foreign people as invaders because its differences.
It’s very rare you’ll even see a police officer in Switzerland, although you may come across one or two directing the traffic. Nonetheless, Swiss police are nothing of a soft touch, and have drawn recent approbation from Amnesty International for their heavy-handed approach to foreigners, asylum seekers and Swiss citizens of non-European descent in particular, with random street searches and “unjustified use of violence” cited.
If you do come into contact with the police, they’ll want to see your passport, which you’re obliged to carry at all times. Ordinary traffic offences will be dealt with swiftly and courteously – as long as you pay the fine – although police officers, especially outside the cities, may not speak any English and so, should there be any disputes, they may insist you accompany them to the nearest police station to have all the necessaries explained.
If you’re unfortunate enough to be robbed you should always go to the nearest police station to get a report filled out (you’ll need it for your insurance if nothing else). It may take hours to complete all the paperwork required.
On the other hand, as across Europe, recently we have seen in the news the racial discrimination, because in those countries exist people with xenophobia; in Switzerland specially, the people can’t stand Latin-American people because our cultural differences, language, skin color, and all the essence of Latin’s.
Finally, we can say that Swiss people are kind and friendly because it culture, even its policies are work in many activities such as the car traffic; but they are seen foreign people as invaders because its differences.
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