Security: the Parisian right calls for a referendum for an “overhaul” of the municipal police

The right-wing opposition to the socialist mayor of Paris Emmanuel Grégoire presented on Wednesday 30 proposals for an “overhaul” of the municipal police, which it wants to arm, and asks the City to organize a referendum to submit them to Parisians. “We agree with Emmanuel Grégoire on the fact that the municipal police as they exist today cannot go out into the field because the agents are neither equipped nor trained,” said Éric Schahl, in charge of security within the Paris Liberté group, during a round table.

After the violence of October 17, the first opposition group in the Paris Council, co-chaired by Grégory Canal and Rachida Dati, deplored that the municipal police officers had “received instructions not to go out”, while two officers were attacked on the sidelines of the looting. “It's terrifying to have seen our colleagues” attacked in this way, reacted during the debates Tarik Maouchi of the Unsa Municipal Police in Paris, who wants this police force, created five years ago, to be equipped with lethal weapons.

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30 “patrol robots”, 100 “tactical support drones”

Beyond weaponry, right-wing elected officials are proposing to experiment with 30 “patrol robots”, as in Singapore. They would be equipped with 360-degree cameras and sensors to “assist” agents in busy closed areas like Châtelet - les Halles. They want to test 100 “tactical support drones” with on-board camera, limited to flagrant offenses, which would take off from district town halls. Both experiments would require a change in the law. Paris Liberté also proposes the creation of five specialized brigades, in particular against sexist and sexual violence, “LGBTphobias” and college security.

“The current police force only looks like it. We want real intervention police to fight against petty crime on public roads,” argued Philippe Goujon, mayor of the 15th arrondissement. At the next Paris Council, in mid-November, the group will ask the City to submit its proposals to Parisians via a referendum, i.e. a “citizen vote” as for electric scooters and SUVs, detailed Grégory Canal. The total cost of the 30 measures represents an annual budget of 170 million euros, Eric Schahl told AFP. The elected official sees as a “gadget” the local police “kiosk” inaugurated Tuesday by the socialist mayor at Porte de Clignancourt (north), which “moreover risks becoming a target”.