In Paris, the municipal police deployed on Tuesday in the twenty arrondissements – archyde

After years of debates and negotiations, the socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo presented, Monday, October 18, the first promotion of the municipal police of Paris during an official ceremony at the Town hall.

Before presenting the diplomas to the 154 civil servants, the mayor underlined the character “Historical” of what she presents as a “Outcome”. “The municipal police of Paris will gradually be deployed (…) in order to be fully ready to welcome the whole world during the 2024 Olympic Games ”, she continued.

The staff will thus be deployed in the field and distributed among the twenty arrondissements as of Tuesday. Their missions have been classified into four “Axes” by Nicolas Nordman, deputy in charge of security matters: “Protect pedestrians”, “Secure the streets”, “To respect the tranquility of local residents” and “To ensure the cleanliness of the city”.

Ethics Committee and Observatory of Public Tranquility

In order to improve the “Police-inhabitant relationship” and establish “A bond of trust”, M^me Hidalgo has announced the creation of a municipal police ethics committee, which will be chaired by former human rights defender Jacques Toubon. In parallel, an observatory of public tranquility, whose mission will be to “Report on the action of the municipal police”, will also see the light of day.

The implementation of this new device does not win the support of all elected officials. Danielle Simonnet, councilor of Paris (La France insoumise), said “Worried about the confusion of roles” between national police and municipal police. “What is the doctrine that will be put in place? “, also wondered Nicolas Bonnet-Oulaldj (French Communist Party). Mr. Nordman underlined the “Complementarity” of both services. “The national police take care of the maintenance of public order, while we will take care of the maintenance of good order”, said Christian Bormian, principal brigadier-chief of the new corps of civil servants.

Another subject of questioning: the resources allocated to the agents of the new police: “154 municipal police officers across the city, that’s “peanuts” ! “, Tance Fatoumata Koné, president of the Ecologistes de Paris group. “We will have to put in the means for this municipal police force to be effective. ” the “Lack of attractiveness” of the post was pointed out by some officers. “In Cannes, a municipal police officer earns twice as much and is housed with his family”, said a security inspector of the city of Paris who wishes to remain anonymous. “The salary and security conditions of the agents are not all met”, added the deputy Brigitte Kuster (Les Républicains, LR).

Competition to recruit 400 security guards

On the right, several elected officials finally regret that these new officials cannot have lethal weapons, which “Send to the pipe breaker”, according to Philippe Goujon, mayor of the 15^e district (LR). “A weapon is a deterrent”, he believes.

This first promotion was to have 210 agents, but they are ultimately only 154, the vast majority from the security services of the city. Mr. Nordman attributes this difference in particular to “Conditions linked to the health crisis during training”. As of this week, the City of Paris will be offering a competition to recruit 400 external agents for the city’s security service.

The new Parisian security school, the next creation of which Anne Hidalgo announced on Monday, will take charge of the training. By 2026, the city wants to have 5,000 security guards, including 3,400 municipal police officers.