The head of the list for the National Rally held a press conference to present her security program. TER, high schools, protection of women, support for mayors. Several measures and a reset of priorities.
“The leading region in France in terms of homicides.” This is the somber assessment made by Alexandra Masson-Bettati, head of the list “Building the Region of Tomorrow” in the Alpes-Maritimes. The candidate went on to provide a series of figures to describe the situation in the PACA region. “One gratuitous assault every 40 seconds, three rapes per hour, 85 acts of violence against law enforcement…” She concluded with a final blow to SNCF. According to an internal report, Nice-Ville station is “the least safe in the region.” Nice Saint Augustin is supposedly the station “that has deteriorated the most.”
A four-point program
The first measure is the creation of a “regional transport police.” It would be under the authority of the police prefect. The goal is to recruit “70 officers per year to reach a total of 500 officers by the end of the term. ‘We should no longer be afraid when returning from work or high school by train,’” added Phillipe Vardon. The cost of this measure is expected to be 3.3 million euros annually. To oversee this, posts will be established in the stations of Avignon, Toulon, and Nice.
Next, there are “safe high schools.” The municipal councilor of Nice decries “the vicinity of high schools, which have become places of confrontation and trafficking. Drugs are circulating and threatening our children.” The prevention plan includes “16 mobile units for securing high schools, which means recruiting 160 officers.”
The safety of women is also “the foremost freedom.” Thierry Mariani plans to introduce a “safety carriage” on all TER trains starting at 9 p.m. In cases of domestic violence, an emergency accommodation network will be established to protect these victims. If some women feel endangered and need to talk, a free regional hotline will soon be set up. This will be managed by associations.
Finally, the region “will support all mayors who strive to ensure the safety of their residents.” How? By funding their projects with an annual “dedicated” fund of 20 million euros. Phillipe Vardon thus ends the controversy concerning his safety shield plan described by Thierry Mariani. “For every euro spent in a municipality on a security project, one euro will be financed by the region.” This might include, for example, the purchase of bulletproof vests, the implementation of video surveillance in high schools…
Thierry Mariani’s counterattack
He is criticized about his proposals. He responds with the results of the current regional president. He then goes on to highlight the failure of installing security arches in the stations. “This would have cost taxpayers 6.8 million euros. For the same amount, this would have allowed for the recruitment of 150 additional railway security officers.”
The former mayor of Valréas also wants to denounce the inadequate measures of his “arch-rival.” The president of the Regions of France plans to install 1,500 prison places in the PACA region. He indicates that it is not “serious.” He explains that it is not within the competencies and means of the region. “A prison place costs 200,000 euros, totaling 300 million euros. By comparison, this is the cost of 5 to 6 new high schools.”
