After a complicated start to the year, crime did not calm down during the summer. In total, there have been 24 knife attacks and 13 shootings in Nice since January. Philippe Vardon and his elected officials presented the city’s security situation along with some avenues for reflection.
“In our city, insecurity, delinquency, and crime have not taken a vacation.” With these words, the municipal councilor sought to demonstrate the concern of the people of Île-de-France about insecurity through a survey conducted for Sud Radio and Cnews. “70% of French people want delinquency to be made a priority action.”
A danger not always easy to eliminate
The metropolitan councilor explains that crime statistics do not always accurately reflect reality. “This is merely a media tally. It is just a count of the serious incidents that have been highlighted by the media, those that could not be brought to your attention. There are those that remained unreported, those that did not lead to a complaint like score-settling or random assaults. The figures revealed are just the visible part of the iceberg. This wildness affects all neighborhoods in Nice.”
A critique of Christian Estrosi’s actions
The municipal councilor did not hesitate to point out the first magistrate’s inaction, indicating that he has not kept his campaign promise. “In March 2008, he came, very well accompanied, to Les Moulins. He had already come to say, ‘I am going to terrorize the city’s thugs,’ adopting the demeanor of Charles Pasqua. After twelve years in office, it is an absolute failure in terms of security. Les Moulins is the symbolic failure of his term. He also denounces the mayor’s ‘all-technological’ approach, both in terms of surveillance cameras and facial recognition. ‘I do not believe that widespread surveillance is the right solution. I do not think that all this technology can replace human work, whether in terms of intelligence, surveillance, or intervention.’
Strong proposals to curb crime
According to him, these measures should be considered at two levels.
- The national level. There needs to be zero tolerance regarding the enforcement of the judicial chain. “We demand zero tolerance for thugs and exemplary sentences. Let’s be clear, a delinquent has little chance of getting caught. If caught, there is little chance of being convicted. If convicted, there is little chance of serving their prison sentence. And if they do serve it, there is little chance of serving it fully.”
- He also proposes that if a delinquent has dual nationality or is a foreigner, they should be immediately expelled. “If the dual penalty had not been abolished by the government of Nicolas Sarkozy—of which Christian Estrosi was a part—the Tunisian-origin terrorist of July 14, 2016, who had been convicted, would surely have been sent back to his country of origin.”
- Finally, at the local level, he wants to give renewed importance to the municipal police. “Reinforcing the municipal police with recruitment is a priority. The situation of the canine brigade is dire. Moreover, we are demanding the deployment of ten ‘real’ positions in the city’s municipal police. What they call police posts are often rest rooms, locker rooms, or rooms where officers eat their sandwiches.”
