Turkish police (Polis) have a very visible presence on the streets of Istanbul. They seem to take their job very seriously, always poised with their finger on the trigger. Not that I would know where the trigger was on this thing, but it seemed like a “don’t mess with me, I’m ready for action” pose. Surprisingly, quite a few of them were women. I’ve been wanting to get a picture, but didn’t know if photographing them was allowed, and didn’t want to trigger their trigger finger with a transgression. So I slowly sidled up to one, pointed to my camera, and batted my eyelashes. (Well ok maybe I just smiled at him, but I like to delude myself that a 68-year-old batting her eyelashes will still get me places.) He never cracked a smile or even broke his pose but gave me a slight nod and straightened his shoulders, which I interpreted as permission. I got my shot, and then quietly slinked away out of target range.