The Eager Cop

Jean Dides used to be an eager Communist-chasing cop. He was the principal lieutenant of Jean Baylot, former prefect (chief) of the Paris police, a white-hot hater and hounder of Reds.

When Premier Pierre Mendes-France came to power, Baylot was removed (TIME, July 26), and Jean Dides was transferred to a relatively minor job. But Dides was so in love with his former work that he went right on beagling about in the Red netherworld.

Last week, in an atmosphere of titillating mystery, the Interior Ministry announced that Dides had been removed from his post. Amid mounting concern over leaks of government secrets to the Reds, Dides had been found in possession of top-secret minutes of the national defense committee. Dides' explanation was that in the government's interest, he got this paper from an informant in the Communist ranks. But the government decided that Dides' job as a port inspector did not qualify him to "collect, retain and diffuse" military information. He was grilled for 24 hours, released, fired from his post.

Paris, buzzing with rumors and guesses, waited impatiently for the tight-lipped Mendes government to explain what was really going on.

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