The mayor assumes a radical turn in a security context “aggravated”. A new Bordeaux municipal police brigade, representing around a quarter of the approximately 200 officers, will be equipped with firearms, the mayor, Pierre Hurmic, announced on Tuesday, November 12, two years before the municipal elections.
Criticized by the opposition and questioned by the agent unions who demanded weapons, the elected environmentalist said that he made this decision in the face of “Crimes and misdemeanors have increased significantly” in the metropolis of Bordeaux. “We are creating a support and security brigade whose agents, and only them, will be equipped with a pistol”declared Pierre Hurmic during a press conference.
This brigade, equipped with a “fifty” of trained agents who benefit from a psychological evaluation, it must be operational “mid 2025” and, in particular, guarantee night missions. This equipment will cost about 28,000 euros, according to the city council.
A time accused by the unions of negative “dogmatic” On the subject, Pierre Hurmic responded in April that he did not want to be a “mayor sheriff”. But he admitted on Tuesday that he had made a decision. “which would not necessarily be the one[il] will have[t] taken at the beginning of the mandate ».
In favor of community policing
“I have the impression that the world has gotten worse, that there are more weapons circulating. It seems normal to me that the municipal police also have a way of responding to this increase in weapons. The context has changed, it has gotten a little worse”argument. claiming the “pragmatism”He also said he wanted to reintroduce a “community police”with brigades of around twenty agents in five geographical areas.
In mid-March, former LR mayor Nicolas Florian accused his successor of being “in denial of responsibility” after publication by The Parisian of a ranking of cities “the safest in France” where Bordeaux was relegated to 110my place (of 119 cases studied).
For their part, Bordeaux municipal police officers went on strike at the end of June to obtain lethal weapons. The 187 officers of the Bordeaux municipal police, whose number should reach 210 in 2026, until now did not have firearms, but were equipped with electric shock guns, gas cannons and telescopic batons.
According to the latest official figures dating from 2022, more than half of the territory’s 24,000 municipal police officers are equipped with a firearm. Among the country’s major cities, Paris, Lille, Rennes, Nantes and Grenoble do not authorize their police officers to possess lethal weapons.
