Is this for semi-automatic "assault-knives"?

[MaryN]

There is not a great deal of similarity between the French and British Police. The set up is different and they answer to different Departments of the Government, depending upon which branch of the Police force they belong to. The main difference you would notice (as a tourist) is that the French Police are armed and are prepared to use force if necessary.

With regard to the position on stop and search in France - there is a lot of ethnic profiling. The French are quite racist (no matter what Macron and his little cronies say), and Arabs in particular do not incur much sympathy. Probably a lot to do with Algeria.