Four municipal police officers suspended in Carcassonne after hateful remarks in a video

The case raises questions about a local profession. In Carcassonne (Aude), four municipal police officers were suspended on Wednesday September 9 by the public prosecutor. They are suspected of appearing in a video of a patrol from November 2025 revealed by Midi libre. Several agents made racist, LGBTphobic, misogynistic and putschist comments among themselves. A judicial investigation has been underway since December, after colleagues of these police officers reported it to their superiors.

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Chief Brigadier César R. is suspected of being the author of most of the hateful remarks broadcast in the recording. This former army paratrooper, member of the National Rally security service, converted to municipal police in 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile. A path that has become quite “classic” over the years, notes Sebastian Roché, research director at the CNRS, author of The Police Against the Street. But what rules govern the recruitment and training of members of these municipal police forces?

A competition to pass

Although these policies have existed since the 19th century, it was not until the law of April 15, 1999 that they were given a modern framework. In Paris, the municipal police force is even a very recent creation since it dates from 2021. According to the Internal Security Code, "the mayor contributes through his police power to the exercise of public security and delinquency prevention missions", except "in the event of an accident, disaster or catastrophe whose consequences may exceed the limits or capacities of a municipality". To ensure this police power, it can equip itself with a municipal police force, which brings together agents carrying out tasks falling within its competence, under its authority, recalls the Legifrance.gouv site.

The mayor must nevertheless respect certain rules in the recruitment and training of these agents. The functions of municipal police officer “can only be exercised by territorial civil servants recruited for this purpose”, recalls the Internal Security Code. To become a municipal police brigadier, the lowest grade, you must have passed the territorial civil service competition category C. To access the competition, you must be French, be of legal age, have a clean criminal record and have obtained your certificate. Candidates who are already local civil servants can, depending on the case, access the position of municipal police officer through an internal competition or by requesting their secondment.

120-day training

The aspiring municipal police officer then applies for offers from municipalities. “A competition between municipalities looking for municipal police officers” often takes place, observes Sebastian Roché, with municipalities being able to “increase salaries or equip themselves with firearms” in order to more easily attract candidates.

Once recruited, he must follow training at the National Center for Territorial Civil Service (CNFPT) lasting 120 days spread over six months, including 76 days of theory and 44 days of practical training. The municipal police officer learns in particular the functioning of institutions, the stages of criminal procedure, intervention techniques and conflict management. Preliminary training in the handling of weapons is also provided for agents of the communities authorizing them.

The duration of this apprenticeship is "light", estimates Sebastian Roché, who pleads for "intensive, long and quality training" for agents whose functions are expected to expand more and more. Training is also shortened to three months for national police officers or military personnel choosing to be seconded, or even integrated, into the municipal police.

And an oath to take

The practice has become common, even if it is not the subject of statistics, as it suits the mayors and the staff concerned, assures Sebastian Roché. “The more the size of the municipal police force expanded, the more the mayors sought out people who had supposed functions in this area, therefore former police officers, gendarmes, soldiers,” he notes.

For the latter, joining the municipal police “allows them to escape the geographical transfer” to which they may be forced. Conversely, retraining in the municipal police "allows you to choose your place of work", notes the researcher. According to him, the practice is not neutral: "they bring know-how" but also "the model of the organization from which they come", opening the way to conflicts within organizations.

Once recruited and trained, the agents must still be approved by the prefect and the public prosecutor, before taking the oath. This is, in theory, a possibility reserved for them to "exert a right of oversight" over the recruitment of municipal police officers, ensuring that "the person is capable of carrying out their duties", notes Sébastian Roché. A safety net which does not always work, according to the researcher, because there is no control body for the municipal police as is the case in the police and the national gendarmerie. “If you do not have an internal body that reflects on the ethics of the municipal police, at the time of recruitment, questions about the relationship with the population, for example, are not necessarily asked.”