“The idea is to first have a dissuasive presence”: the city of Paris inaugurates its first local municipal police kiosk

The PS mayor of Paris Emmanuel Grégoire inaugurated on Tuesday the first municipal police “kiosk” in the capital Porte de Clignancourt (north), “proximity security” to strengthen the “visible presence” of Parisian municipal police officers. This system, which is inspired by small Japanese police stations called “koban”, will be tested for several months before being extended if the test is successful, Emmanuel Grégoire explained to the press.

Other neighborhoods “which need public tranquility” are being studied: the Gare de l’Est, Gare du Nord or Champ-de-Mars sectors “where hyper-precariousness and hyper-crowding intersect”. The first kiosk, designed by the French advertising display giant JCDecaux, is open every day from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. at Porte de Clignancourt, “one of the poorest neighborhoods in Europe” faced in particular with the sale of cigarettes on the street, said Emmanuel Grégoire.

“The idea is to first have a dissuasive presence, which is also intended to be the receptacle of all the grievances of local residents and to bring them up to intervene on a case-by-case basis,” explained Lamia El-Aaaraje, first deputy also in charge of security. The agents will also ensure the fight against “trafficking and incivility” and the “securing of the surroundings of businesses, in conjunction with the national police” who will be able to take over in particular for arrests, detailed the elected official.

Created five years ago, the Parisian municipal police force has around 4,200 unarmed officers. Emmanuel Grégoire promised 1,000 more during his mandate, he recalled, while emphasizing the difficulties in recruiting. The mayor judged the controversy that the right has given rise to as “shameful”, which regrets that municipal police officers were not more present in public spaces during the violence of October 17 and 18: “The Parisian municipal police have no prerogative of the national police”.

The leader of the Parisian right, Grégory Canal, calls for the arming of municipal police officers and proposes in particular that specialized teams be sent “to the outskirts of hot spots” if necessary. On October 18, two municipal agents on patrol were attacked in their vehicle alongside looting in the 9th arrondissement.