• The town hall of Rezé, the third municipality of the Nantes conurbation, will recruit eight additional agents to improve public tranquility.

  • Will they be mediators and surveillance agents of the public highway as at present or municipal police officers?

    The inhabitants are called to decide on Sunday.

“Would you like the city to create a local municipal police?

The question appears in large letters on some Rezé billboards.

This Sunday, the voters of this municipality of the Nantes conurbation, populated by 43,000 inhabitants, are called to their usual polling station to give their opinion.

The municipality (various left), which had made a campaign promise, is organizing a citizen vote, which it assures that the result will be followed regardless of the outcome and the participation rate.

"At a time when the gap is widening between the institutions and the inhabitants, we think that this question is worth discussing," says Jean-Christophe Faës, deputy for public tranquility, who does not wish to give his personal opinion on the matter.

What is certain is that eight new agents will be recruited.

Will they be mediators, ASVPs or municipal police?

We let the locals decide.

»


Not the same skill set

Because the subject, particularly delicate, is also more technical than it seems.

Third city of the agglomeration and among the only ones not yet to have a municipal police, Rezé intends to significantly strengthen the presence in the public space, by increasing by half its team currently composed of 13 agents (six mediators and seven ASVP) .

It therefore remains to be seen what the missions of these new recruits will be, who will be in the field until 8 p.m. and on certain weekends.

"We have limited skills but already do a lot of things: parking, waste, markets, stray animals...", explains a public highway surveillance officer.

However, there is no question for them of intervening in certain incivilities such as speeding, noise pollution, or occupations of building halls... What any municipal police officers in the region can do.

Opinions differ

Nuances that could be difficult to understand for some of the inhabitants, still worried by the wave of burglaries, which affected the town several months ago.

This Thursday, in the streets of the Pont-Rousseau district, some already had a clear-cut opinion, sometimes forgetting that the question of delinquency is in theory the competence of the national police.

“Obviously we have to create it, says a retiree, who reports having had jewelry stolen during an attack on the public highway.

Insecurity is increasing, it is appalling.

Parking problems too.

Today, we don't really know who to turn to.

»

A position that does not share Marie, 90, who will make the trip to vote against the creation of this patrol.

“We already pay way too much tax, and we're not going to put an agent behind each person!

Let everyone try to behave well, walk straight, and everything will be fine…” Before the results expected on Sunday evening, it is therefore difficult to know where the wind will turn.

Especially since the context of violence that has surrounded Nantes in recent days could also play a role.


“During the many public meetings organized, we tried to dispassionate the debate, assures Jean-Christophe Faës.

We talked about the advantages but also the limitations.

On the uniform, for example, we hear that some want to see more while others don't.

We also recalled the role of the State, which must respond to our requests for sufficient resources in terms of the national police, the only one able to fight against drug trafficking or burglaries”.

The elected official specifies that if the creation of a municipal police force is voted, this one will not be armed.

“The agents will not work in a hurry.

They will be in contact with the inhabitants, which does not mean that they will not sanction when necessary, ”explains Jean-Christophe Faës.

A doctrine that will perhaps attract candidates, at a time when the recruitment of municipal police officers is a problem in many municipalities.

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