In Paris, Brigade Battles To Make Oui-Oui A Non-Non
躲在黑色的墨镜后面，让·皮埃尔·雷贝特(Jean-Pierre Rebete)尾随着他的目标进入了巴黎市一条狭窄的小巷。“我们逮到了一个，”他悄声对自己的搭挡说。他的搭挡立刻猛冲到巷子的另一头，堵住目标的出口。Susana Ferreira/The Wall Street Journal尽管巴黎大街上设置了新式宽敞的公共厕所，但还是无法阻止随地小便的行为巷子里的男人拉好牛仔裤的拉链，从墙边转过身来。完蛋了。雷贝特先生交给了他一张罚单，告知了他应有的权利。雷贝特先生是巴黎反随地小便战的一名特工。作为一支由88人组成的精英团队“不良行为别动队”(Brigade des Incivilites)的成员，雷贝特先生负责巡视巴黎的大街小巷，抓寻各种各样行为粗鄙的违规者。他穿着平民装，开着没有什么明显特征的汽车，其目标五花八门，包括乱丢垃圾者，乱发传单者，还有不愿将爱犬的排泄物从地上捡拾起来的巴黎人。法国“特种”巡警专抓随地大小便瑞贝特(Jean-Pierre Rebete)和博塔尼(Daniel Bottani)与你平日见到的巴黎警察不同。他们执行的任务十分特殊──巡视巴黎的主要街道，专抓那些危害公共卫生的人。随地大小便等最轻微的犯罪也在他们管辖范围之内。《华尔街日报》费雷拉(Susana Ferreira)报道。但是，法国人所称的urine sauvage，翻译过来就是“随地小便”，则是所有不良行为当中最难打击的一个。虽然巴黎市政府在纠正巴黎人无视狗粪方面已经取得一些成功，但是对于随地小便的现象还是一筹莫展。随地小便在巴黎的某些地区很难清除，无论是在街道上，地铁里，还是公园里。“不良行为别动队”的成员表示，随地小便并没有突发的高峰季节，但是炎热的夏天通常会让大街小巷弥漫着恶臭。市政环卫工人每个月都要擦洗并喷 几万平方米的墙壁和人行道。但是，据也曾是环卫工人的雷贝特先生表示，他们通过热水管喷射的清洁产品──消毒剂和除臭剂的混合物，根本敌不过那些逐渐渗透到巴黎市内石头街道里的尿流。他说，“那只是掩盖了臭味。可没有把小便清洗干净。”巴黎市政府已经试图从源头遏制随地小便的现象。自2006年以来，市政府已将大约400间公共厕所投入到大街小巷，供公众免费使用。这些被称为Sanisette的自洗式灰色隔间还在不断更新换代当中，最近的款式还增加了天窗和一种环保设计，包括可以储集雨水供清洗厕所用的蓄水池。然而，据巴黎市一位曾经试图攻克此难题的建筑师范德普登(Etienne Vanderpooten)表示，喜欢随意“排解”的巴黎人并没有因此被吓唬住。2005年，范德普登先生曾推出“反随地小便墙”的设计，这种墙具有波浪形的外壁，行人在它上面“方便”，反而会被自己的尿液溅到。这座墙的原型被附在当时巴黎市内随地小便现象最为严重的一条街道──即巴黎右岸(Right Bank)的Cour des Petites Ecuries。范德普登先生说，他常常路过那里检查自己的试验效果：“那些过去常在那里方便的人们不再在同一个地方小便了。”不过，巴黎市政府目前还没有计划树立更多的“反随地小便墙”。无论是小城镇，还是大都市，随地小便是一个全球性的现象。前纽约市市长鲁道夫·朱利安尼(Rudolph Giuliani)曾要求纽约市警察局(NYPD)严厉打击影响“生活质量”的不雅行为，其中也包括随地小便。据纽约市警察局的资料，单是今年一年，纽约市就已经传唤了18,500名随地小便者。巴黎市在应付此类问题上则采取了更加循序渐进的方法。早在20世纪60年代初，负责城市卫生的CAPP部门(the Centre d'Action pour la Proprete de Paris)即开始推出资料手册地铁海报以及一系列的短片，宣传卫生和空气质量的重要性。1986年，市政府意识到CAPP在抗击不文明行为的战斗中需要更多精英，便将有关权限从警方转交至新组建的“不良行为别动队”。巴黎市政府官员表示，别动队积极的执法加上大力宣传很快消除了狗粪当道的问题。CAPP的总监埃里克?奥伯林(Erick Orblin)表示，自清理狗粪运动以来，巴黎市内的宠物狗数量已经出现下降。他说，一些巴黎人日益倾心于诸如猫和鱼这样不用外出遛的动物，以免还得跟在宠物后面清理排泄物的麻烦。不过，随地小便则是完全不同的一个问题。在别动队每年记录的20,000例不良行为案例中，其中四分之一涉及人和狗非法随地小便。2007年，别动队向成人开出的随地小便罚单为1,200张。2008年，这个数字攀升到1,800张。到今年6月底，别动队已经开出1,100张罚单。市政官员表示，目前难以确定罚单数量的增多是由于随地小便问题日益严重，还是雷贝特先生及其别动队同事的严厉执法。还有其它的挑战。别动队成员并不针对无家可归者旅游者，或者无身份者。这是因为，没有身份或者巴黎市内的地址，违规者没有办法通过邮件收到法庭文件。罚金最高可达450欧元（合644美元），但是从明年开始，将降低至最高35欧元。对于53岁的别动队特工雷贝特先生来说，公共卫生意味着基本的公民价值。从他那修长平整的茶色夹克修剪整齐的指甲，到左耳垂隐约闪光的小耳钉，雷贝特先生本身就是一丝不苟的最好诠释。1982年，雷贝特先生加入了法国公务员队伍，随后服务于市政府的多个部门，包括城市清洁和净水部(Department of Cleanliness and Water)。在去年加入别动队之前，他曾担任巴黎的街道清扫工人和垃圾处理工人。雷贝特先生说，“现在的人们缺少礼貌端庄的仪态。”他对着人行道上的一摊“水”直皱眉头。“我还记得40年前我和祖父一起散步的时候，大家会捡起落在街边的哪怕一点点纸屑。”“不良行为别动队”按班轮值，工作从早上6点开始一直持续到晚上11点。别动队的特工总是两两出行。雷贝特先生说，来自违规人员的暴力阻抗虽然不是很普遍，但是时有发生。在最近的一个下午班上，雷贝特先生及其搭挡开着他们的雪铁龙汽车，刚刚开始在街道上巡逻。这时，他们发现了当天的第一个违规行为：非法乱倒垃圾。雷贝特先生迅速从车里出来，戴上橡胶手套，撕开那个被乱丢的垃圾袋。在里面，他找到了他正在寻找的东西：一张写有附近某家企业──也就是潜在的违规方──名字和地址的纸片。当他搜寻其它违规行为的时候，雷贝特先生的战略就是不要惹人注目。他会戴上墨镜，装作在等车或者等朋友，然后在违规发生后悄悄走到他们的背后。雷贝特先生说，“我们不会打断他们。”他还说，他一般都能在违规行为发生之前就预测到。雷贝特先生给他在小巷里逮到的随地小便者开出罚单后几分钟，另一个嫌疑人如法炮制。与之前的违规者一样，这名男子转身向左，靠向墙壁，然后拉开了拉链。雷贝特先生面带微笑，静静地朝他走去，一只手则伸向了别在皮带上的罚单本。Susana Ferreira
Hidden behind dark sunglasses, Jean-Pierre Rebete follows his target into a narrow Paris alley.'We've got one,' he whispers to his partner, who bolts to block off the other end of the street.The man in the alley zips up his jeans and turns away from the wall. Busted. Mr. Rebete hands him a ticket and informs him of his rights.Mr. Rebete is a special agent in Paris's war on public urination. Part of an elite, 88-member force called the Brigade des Incivilites, or Bad Behavior Brigade, Mr. Rebete scours the streets for all sorts of boorish offenders. Dressed in civilian clothes and driving an unmarked car, he tickets everyone from litterbugs to people handing out unauthorized flyers to Parisians who don't pick up after their dog.But what the French call urine sauvage, which translates to 'wild urine,' is the hardest to crack. While France's capital has campaigned with some success to have Parisians pick up after their pets, the city is still struggling with the presence of pipi. Urine is hard to escape in certain parts of the city, be it on the street, in the Metro or in parks.Members of the Brigade say there is no high season for urinary offenses, but summertime heat heightens the stench.City hygiene workers scrub down and spray tens of thousands of square meters of walls and sidewalks every month. But according to Mr. Rebete, a former sanitation worker himself, the products they use -- a combination of disinfectant and deodorizer, blasted through a hose with hot water -- are no match for the streams that seep into the city's stone streets.'It just masks the smell,' he says. 'It doesn't wash it away.'Paris has tried to stem the flow. Some 400 public restrooms -- self-cleaning gray pods called Sanisettes -- are scattered throughout the city and have been free to use since 2006. The Sanisettes are being upgraded, and the newest models include skylights and an eco-friendly design, including reservoirs that store rainwater for use in the toilet.Yet offenders are undeterred, says Etienne Vanderpooten, an architect with the City of Paris who has tried to crack the puzzle. In 2005, Mr. Vanderpooten unveiled a design for an anti-pipi wall, a jagged surface that splashes urine back onto the unzipped offender. The prototype was attached to a wall in one of the most affected areas at the time -- a street called the Cour des Petites Ecuries on Paris' Right Bank. Mr. Vanderpooten says he often goes by to check on his experiment: 'The people who used to pee there don't pee in the same place anymore.' The city has no immediate plans to erect more of the walls.Whether in small towns or big cities, public urination is a global phenomenon. Under former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the New York City Police Department began a major crackdown on 'quality of life' offenses -- including passing water in public. This year alone, the city has handed out more than 18,500 summonses for public urination, according to the NYPD.Paris has taken a more gradual approach to tackling the problem. Starting in the early 1960s, the office in charge of keeping the city clean -- the Centre d'Action pour la Proprete de Paris, or CAPP -- released informational brochures, subway posters and a series of short films about hygiene and air quality. Then in 1986, realizing that the CAPP needed more teeth in its fight against uncivilized behavior, the mayor's office transferred jurisdiction from the police to the new Bad Behavior Brigade.Active enforcement by the Brigade, combined with aggressive advertising, managed to eliminate the dog-droppings problem rather quickly, city officials say. Erick Orblin, CAPP director, says he has noticed a decline in the Parisian dog population since the crackdown began. Some residents would now prefer to own an indoor cat or a fish than have to stoop and scoop on the sidewalk, he says.But the urine problem is a different matter. Of the 20,000 total infractions the Brigade records every year, one quarter involve people and dogs caught illegally relieving themselves in public. In 2007, the Brigade handed out 1,200 tickets to adults for public urination. In 2008, that number rose to 1,800. By the end of June this year, the Brigade had already handed out 1,100 tickets. City officials say it is hard to determine whether the rising number is due to a growing problem or to the crackdown by Mr. Rebete and his colleagues.There are other challenges. Brigade members don't target homeless people, travelers, or people without documentation. That is because, without identification or a Paris address, offenders have no way of receiving court documents in the mail. Fines can be as high as 450 euros ($644), but will be reduced to a maximum of 35 euros starting next year.For Mr. Rebete, the 53-year-old Brigade agent, public hygiene is about basic civic values. From his slim, neatly pressed tan slacks to his perfectly trimmed nails and the small, gleaming stud in his left earlobe, everything about Mr. Rebete suggests a sense of well-scrubbed order. In 1982, Mr. Rebete joined France's civil-servant corps and worked his way through various municipal units, including the Department of Cleanliness and Water. He spent some years as a Paris street cleaner and garbage-disposal worker before joining the Brigade last year.'There's a lack of civility,' said Mr. Rebete, frowning at a puddle on a sidewalk. 'I remember walking around with my grandfather 40 years ago, and you'd pick up every bit of paper that fell to the street.'The Brigade works in shifts from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and agents always go out in teams of two. Violent resistance from offenders, though not common, is sometimes possible, Mr. Rebete said.On their recent afternoon shift, Mr. Rebete and his partner had just begun patrolling the streets in their compact Citroen car when they spotted the first offense of the day: illegal trash dumping. Mr. Rebete jumped out, slid on a pair of latex gloves and ripped open the stray trash bag. Inside, he found what he was looking for: a sheet of paper with the name and address of a nearby business, the likely guilty party.When he is surveying for other offenses, Mr. Rebete's strategy is to blend in. He puts on his shades, pretends he is waiting for the bus or a friend, and sneaks up on people after the act. 'We don't interrupt them,' says Mr. Rebete, adding that he can generally spot offenses even before they occur.Minutes after Mr. Rebete ticketed the urinator he caught in the alley, another suspect headed the same way. Like the previous offender, the man stepped off to the left, leaned close to the wall and unzipped.Mr. Rebete smiled and walked quietly toward him, fishing for the book of tickets tucked into his belt.Susana Ferreira
Hidden behind dark sunglasses, Jean-Pierre Rebete follows his target into a narrow Paris alley.'We've got one,' he whispers to his partner, who bolts to block off the other end of the street.The man in the alley zips up his jeans and turns away from the wall. Busted. Mr. Rebete hands him a ticket and informs him of his rights.Mr. Rebete is a special agent in Paris's war on public urination. Part of an elite, 88-member force called the Brigade des Incivilites, or Bad Behavior Brigade, Mr. Rebete scours the streets for all sorts of boorish offenders. Dressed in civilian clothes and driving an unmarked car, he tickets everyone from litterbugs to people handing out unauthorized flyers to Parisians who don't pick up after their dog.But what the French call urine sauvage, which translates to 'wild urine,' is the hardest to crack. While France's capital has campaigned with some success to have Parisians pick up after their pets, the city is still struggling with the presence of pipi. Urine is hard to escape in certain parts of the city, be it on the street, in the Metro or in parks.Members of the Brigade say there is no high season for urinary offenses, but summertime heat heightens the stench.City hygiene workers scrub down and spray tens of thousands of square meters of walls and sidewalks every month. But according to Mr. Rebete, a former sanitation worker himself, the products they use -- a combination of disinfectant and deodorizer, blasted through a hose with hot water -- are no match for the streams that seep into the city's stone streets.'It just masks the smell,' he says. 'It doesn't wash it away.'Paris has tried to stem the flow. Some 400 public restrooms -- self-cleaning gray pods called Sanisettes -- are scattered throughout the city and have been free to use since 2006. The Sanisettes are being upgraded, and the newest models include skylights and an eco-friendly design, including reservoirs that store rainwater for use in the toilet.Yet offenders are undeterred, says Etienne Vanderpooten, an architect with the City of Paris who has tried to crack the puzzle. In 2005, Mr. Vanderpooten unveiled a design for an anti-pipi wall, a jagged surface that splashes urine back onto the unzipped offender. The prototype was attached to a wall in one of the most affected areas at the time -- a street called the Cour des Petites Ecuries on Paris' Right Bank. Mr. Vanderpooten says he often goes by to check on his experiment: 'The people who used to pee there don't pee in the same place anymore.' The city has no immediate plans to erect more of the walls.Whether in small towns or big cities, public urination is a global phenomenon. Under former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the New York City Police Department began a major crackdown on 'quality of life' offenses -- including passing water in public. This year alone, the city has handed out more than 18,500 summonses for public urination, according to the NYPD.Paris has taken a more gradual approach to tackling the problem. Starting in the early 1960s, the office in charge of keeping the city clean -- the Centre d'Action pour la Proprete de Paris, or CAPP -- released informational brochures, subway posters and a series of short films about hygiene and air quality. Then in 1986, realizing that the CAPP needed more teeth in its fight against uncivilized behavior, the mayor's office transferred jurisdiction from the police to the new Bad Behavior Brigade.Active enforcement by the Brigade, combined with aggressive advertising, managed to eliminate the dog-droppings problem rather quickly, city officials say. Erick Orblin, CAPP director, says he has noticed a decline in the Parisian dog population since the crackdown began. Some residents would now prefer to own an indoor cat or a fish than have to stoop and scoop on the sidewalk, he says.But the urine problem is a different matter. Of the 20,000 total infractions the Brigade records every year, one quarter involve people and dogs caught illegally relieving themselves in public. In 2007, the Brigade handed out 1,200 tickets to adults for public urination. In 2008, that number rose to 1,800. By the end of June this year, the Brigade had already handed out 1,100 tickets. City officials say it is hard to determine whether the rising number is due to a growing problem or to the crackdown by Mr. Rebete and his colleagues.There are other challenges. Brigade members don't target homeless people, travelers, or people without documentation. That is because, without identification or a Paris address, offenders have no way of receiving court documents in the mail. Fines can be as high as 450 euros ($644), but will be reduced to a maximum of 35 euros starting next year.For Mr. Rebete, the 53-year-old Brigade agent, public hygiene is about basic civic values. From his slim, neatly pressed tan slacks to his perfectly trimmed nails and the small, gleaming stud in his left earlobe, everything about Mr. Rebete suggests a sense of well-scrubbed order. In 1982, Mr. Rebete joined France's civil-servant corps and worked his way through various municipal units, including the Department of Cleanliness and Water. He spent some years as a Paris street cleaner and garbage-disposal worker before joining the Brigade last year.'There's a lack of civility,' said Mr. Rebete, frowning at a puddle on a sidewalk. 'I remember walking around with my grandfather 40 years ago, and you'd pick up every bit of paper that fell to the street.'The Brigade works in shifts from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and agents always go out in teams of two. Violent resistance from offenders, though not common, is sometimes possible, Mr. Rebete said.On their recent afternoon shift, Mr. Rebete and his partner had just begun patrolling the streets in their compact Citroen car when they spotted the first offense of the day: illegal trash dumping. Mr. Rebete jumped out, slid on a pair of latex gloves and ripped open the stray trash bag. Inside, he found what he was looking for: a sheet of paper with the name and address of a nearby business, the likely guilty party.When he is surveying for other offenses, Mr. Rebete's strategy is to blend in. He puts on his shades, pretends he is waiting for the bus or a friend, and sneaks up on people after the act. 'We don't interrupt them,' says Mr. Rebete, adding that he can generally spot offenses even before they occur.Minutes after Mr. Rebete ticketed the urinator he caught in the alley, another suspect headed the same way. Like the previous offender, the man stepped off to the left, leaned close to the wall and unzipped.Mr. Rebete smiled and walked quietly toward him, fishing for the book of tickets tucked into his belt.Susana Ferreira