At the end of the school year, the Mayor of Nice felt obliged to present an initial assessment of the trial use of unarmed municipal police officers in schools.
“A success,” according to the Nice City Hall, which announced that starting next January, schools that wish to do so can benefit from this initiative.
Christian Estrosi initially advocated for municipal police officers to be present within school premises. This measure was previously rejected by the former Minister of Education, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. Jean-Michel Blanquer, her successor, expressed support for the experiment as long as the officers remain unarmed.
Since last April, three schools (Digue des Français, Von Derwies, and Ventabrun) have been testing the concept.
“A success,” according to those primarily involved, namely school principals, police officers, students, and parents. In fact, the three pilot schools have already requested a renewal of the initiative.
However, Christian Estrosi emphasizes that there will be “no systematic generalization (…) we will respect each one’s wishes.” This should reassure the skeptics, such as parent-teacher associations (FCPE) and teachers’ unions, which are calling for better allocation of funds. It is therefore unlikely that a municipal police officer will be present in every school in the city by the next academic year.
To recall, 130 officers were hired for this initial trial mission, with an estimated cost of 4 million euros.
