Municipal police officers called to mobilize on Saturday to be better recognized

Europe 1 with AFP 10:04 a.m., February 2, 2024

Municipal police officers are called on Saturday to a national mobilization which promises to be "very strong" according to their representatives, in order to obtain better recognition of their work, as well as an increase in remuneration and pensions. At the call of the collective of "angry municipal police officers", some 26,000 territorial officials are invited to gather in front of the regional prefectures from 2:00 p.m.

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This collective is made up in particular of municipal police unions including the five representative national confederations, and the National Federation of Municipal Police Officers of France (FNPM), created in March 2023. In Paris, the procession will leave at 1:00 p.m. from République to join the City Hall.

“Governments have been giving new prerogatives to municipal police officers for around thirty years but at a social level, we are still at the same point,” explains Brigadier-Chief Thierry Colomar, president of the FNPM, to AFP. "We are real police officers, the only difference with the national police or the gendarmerie is that we do not carry out investigations and we do not take complaints, but on the public highway, we have exactly the same missions, and the risks linked to these missions", he adds, recalling that municipal police officers can be mobilized for "a robbery or a terrorist act".

A “police” bonus demanded

Municipal police officers want the “police” bonus or “special monthly police duty allowance” (ISMF) to be made compulsory, which can represent up to several hundred euros per month. They also want it to be increased to 25% of the basic salary, and to include it in the calculation of retirement as is the case for professional firefighters with the “fire bonus”.

They also ask for a move to a higher category as well as a year of bonus for retirement every five years. “Since the pension reform, we can leave at 59 with 900 euros net per month for 30 years of service, while a national police officer will leave with at least 1,000 euros more, so we are obliged to leave at 62 or 64 years but it's complicated at this age to chase young delinquency", argues Thierry Colomar.

This mobilization is the last stage of a movement that began on October 31, with a minutes strike which continued during Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve as well as January 1. Municipal police officers are also counting on the arrival of the Olympic Games, during which they will be on the front line to replace the police mobilized in the cities hosting the events, to put pressure on the government.