According to a ranking published by the site Numbeo, Nice is the safest city in France. A great reward for the municipal police.
Nice is the safest city in France. This is the takeaway from the ranking published by the site Numbeo. The city on the Côte d’Azur is ahead of Bordeaux and Lyon. Marseille is in tenth and last place among French cities. This ranking is based on the opinions of travelers using the Numbeo platform. Nice has a safety index of 59.01 and a crime index of 40.99.
This ranking is thus seen as a triumph for Christian Estrosi, who is naturally happy to see the work of the municipal police rewarded: “Today, being identified as the safest city in France is quite a reference.” The city of Nice is therefore in the first position in the ranking of the safest cities in France. It’s a new development but driven by a process started several years ago. “In 2008, I launched a ‘Safe and Smart City’ program, a smart and safe city,” recalls the mayor of Nice. “I wanted, based on the human dimension of a very organized police force, to incorporate technologies that rely on artificial intelligence.”
These technologies, such as the development of surveillance cameras, have made it possible to fight criminals more effectively. “This allows our municipal police teams to put in a lot of effort in the fight against major criminal activities and big traffics, such as drugs or prostitution,” explains Christian Estrosi.
Even though crime is certainly still present, the municipal police continue to fight in the most effective way possible to protect the citizens of Nice. In 2020, 5,740 arrests were made, a 34% increase compared to the previous year.
The results of the Numbeo ranking seem to validate the mayor’s position.
Except that…
Patrick Allemand (Nice au coeur), former city and metropolitan councilor
“Buying a full-page ad in the regional daily to boast ‘Nice, the city ranked the safest in France‘ was a bold move. This advertisement tells us that in 2020, there were 5,740 arrests, a 34% increase. The city hall congratulates itself, although this is a particularly worrying number, knowing that most offenses are not solved.”
Patrick Allemand paints a very different picture regarding the city’s safety: “Nice is the provincial city that has paid the highest price for attacks, and the one at the Basilica Notre Dame brutally reminded us of the horror of July 14, 2016. Nice is also the city where the number of score-settling incidents increased the most in 2020, particularly in the Moulins and Liserons neighborhoods. And they call it ‘Nice, the safest city in France.’ What a joke!”
Robert Injey (PCF), former city and metropolitan councilor.
This ranking is completely bogus. It is not based on any official figures, no INSEE survey. It relies solely on a “database” called Numbeo. It is a database of opinions on cities and countries worldwide. Its rankings, as in previous years, are based on travelers’ opinions using Numbeo. And at the time of the ad’s creation, January 26, it was based on fewer than fifty reviews!
He explains: “On Sunday, February 7 at 9:00 AM, I was only the 65th ‘contributor’ regarding the safety of the city of Nice on the Numbeo site. And the safety rate, praised by the city of Nice’s advertisement, had already dropped significantly and fell behind Bordeaux, Lyon, Toulouse, Lille…”
The conclusion is harsh: “This municipal advertisement is both indecent toward Nice attack victims and amounts to a true intellectual scam. It’s quite pitiful for the city of Nice to base its communication solely on the opinions of about fifty travelers.”
Philippe Vardon (RN), city and metropolitan councilor
“This would almost make one smile, if this ranking hadn’t fueled press articles and, more importantly, hadn’t led to a major propaganda operation in the columns of the main local newspaper, at the expense of the people of Nice, of course.”
