The controversies this summer between the municipality and the State services after the July 14 attack had left marks and lingering questions: Were there any failings? Responsibilities? And whose?
The interview with the supervision center official denouncing an attempt by the Ministry of the Interior to distort the facts had also added fuel to an already blazing fire. Harsh words were exchanged, with Christian Estrosi leading his police officers like a D’Artagnan leading the queen’s musketeers.
Municipal police versus national police? A nightmare scenario…
But then summer passed, the temperatures cooled, tempers calmed, and a sense of responsibility finally returned with the idea of a great public consultation to find out what the people think about “their” police. Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is yours.
Questionnaires were distributed, responses solicited, and the result, beyond statistical extrapolations, doesn’t give the impression that the people of Nice had much enthusiasm to voice their opinion: slightly more than 2,000 responses out of 172,000 tax households. As for participatory democracy, that will have to wait for another time.
The conclusion? The love for the uniform is indeed confirmed: people don’t want more of it, especially not at their doorstep.
Christian Estrosi will thus have additional support for negotiations with the Prefecture within the framework of the State-Municipality agreement for the supervision of public order.
But that’s not all: although Nice’s municipal police is the largest in France in terms of numbers, it will be further expanded by the arrival of 130 additional officers, for a final total of 550.
Furthermore, a new organization will allow for a more streamlined hierarchy, reduce a certain number of administrative tasks, change the shift schedule (from 7 to 3) with 1 weekend off every 3 weeks, and integrate specialized teams to better cover neighborhoods.
In short, everyone (as much as possible) will be on the ground, visible to citizens (and criminals) and ready for action.
First application: every school will have a police officer in front of its door.
Surveillance cameras, new equipment (including the new weapon to be issued very soon) will be valuable tools to make the citizen protection policy even more effective.
On the financial side: the budget for this department increases from 29 to 37 million per year.
