French police drinking on the job.

I recently heard a news story, while driving my car, about police trade unions being up in arms that the government was trying to ban policemen from drinking on the job.  I snorted and shook my head, once again challenged by the surprising nature of French society  Then, I forgot all about it until I saw that the British press had picked up the story. French Police drinking ban.
The French have a very special relationship with alcohol.  Society is very laid back in its approach.  Wine is a part of every meal, and farmers in the Alps take a glass of white wine at the local bar in the morning.  Motorway service stations serve alcohol but only if you are having a meal.  Once, I was eating at a counter when a truck driver entered and asked for a beer.  The waitress refused and told him he had to have a meal to be served alcohol.  He looked at me, saw I was not drinking anything, and asked for my beer! 
Despite this attitude, I can't remember seeing the excesses of drunken violence that are witnessed most Friday and Saturday nights in the UK.  That is not to say there is no binge drinking, it is on the rise, but it tends to be at the fringes of festivals.  When I was at University in Brighton, I experienced the difference between the British and French in terms of alcohol.  The young English students were elated to discover cheap subsidised alcohol,  and I could, shamefacedly, recount some of my own exploits.  The French exchange students, however, were much calmer and rarely got very drunk.  They did have a vice though, Mariuana, some of the most notoroious dealers on campus were French.  I think these two juxtasposed attitudes were due to the repressive attitude to alcohol in the UK and the repressive attitude to Mariuana in France.  Getting caught with some grass is considered far more serious in France than in the UK.
My point is that while it seems to be shocking to hear of French policemen swigging beer, in reality the arguement is really over a glass or two with their meal breaks.  My experience has been that French people have a more sensible attitude to alcohol than the English.  The unrepressive laws concerning alcohol have not made it the forbidden fruit it is in the UK, and therefore the French do not drink to excess.  That being said the idea of the famous CRS riot police have a few drinks before kitting up to confront demonstraters does seem little odd, but that's France.