Young female traffic police in Hanoi have admitted that they have faced a lot of difficulties during their management of the city's streets.
Young traffic police Hong Nhung
Disturbed
The female officers have had to contend with harassment and bad weather.
"A few days ago when I was regulating the traffic at Nguyen Thai Hoc, a taxi driver rolled down his window and groped me," Hong Nhung, a female traffic police trainee from Hanoi's traffic police team 2 said.
According to Nhung, she had been harassed several times by young men.
A young officer was also reported to have been sexually harassed on the afternoon of January 24 at the junction of Khuat Duy Tin and Nguyen Trai.
Speaking about the incident Lieutenant-colonel Nguyen Chi Cong, head of the Hanoi police's traffic police team 7, said reports had been exaggerated.
"We often assign a male and female traffic police to regulate the traffic during rush hours at that junction. All the traffic police had worked at the traffic point denied the case," Cong claimed.
He, however, said if the case was true, nothing could be done anyway.
Unexpected effects
Several female traffic police claimed that they may well have caused accidents by their presence, with motorists allegedly crashing after spotting the novelty of female police officers.
Sergeant Nguyen Thi Kim Anh from the traffic police team 7 said she had been assigned to regulate traffic just a month after graduating from school.
Sergeant Nguyen Thi Kim Anh (left) and Second lieutenant Le Thi Hong Duyen classifying dossiers of traffic violators
She said at the beginning, she and her young colleagues had suffered from the changeable weather and traffic fumes. They had to wake up at 5:30am for work on time.
"I’ve come to understand the difficulties faced by male colleges who had to regulate traffic all year long," she commented.
Second lieutenant Le Thi Hong Duyen from the same team with Anh said she was terribly tired and stressed during her first working days. She, however, was proud of her job.