This Europe: French police on the wheels of misfortune

French police are to be given faster, fancier patrol cars, through the back door. But it will be a fair cop.

The National Assembly has approved a proposal to allow traffic police and paramilitary gendarmes to keep, and use, vehicles they seize. Police will also use impounded and unclaimed stolen goods.

Officers, most of whom drive battered Peugeots, welcomed the change. "We could do with some powerful cars, like BMWs," a gendarme who patrols Alsace motorways said. "The criminals are much faster than we are."

Jean-Pierre Raynaud of the National Police Officers' Union said: "Any measure that can improve our service to the public while not costing the Treasury more money is a good thing. We use the same cars as the public, only ours are on the road around the clock, seven days a week, on call-outs, in car chases. We get through a lot of clutches and shock absorbers.''

A civil servant involved in drafting the law change denied officers might harass criminals for the cars they were driving. ''That will never happen," he said. "A car is impounded for months while the case goes through court. Only after there has been a judgment, and only if the vehicle becomes the property of the state, will we consider deploying it.''

At present, impounded vehicles in state hands are sold off cheaply at auctions. French customs already use impounded vehicles. They acquire about 10 cars, lorries and buses every year (mostly those rebuilt to carry drugs or arms) and use them for training.