It looks like bans for odd/even license plates were used in Paris in 2014 [1] and 1997 [2], but not before then. However, a similar scheme was used to ration gasoline in the US during the 70s [3].
The only source I can find for the claim about police confusion is the one cited by Wikipedia [4], whose reliability I'm inclined to doubt based on the 1997/1977 discrepancy.