2023-07-07 10:56:55
L’Haÿ-les-Roses, Montluçon, Pontoise, Charleville-Mézières… Many elected officials, and in particular mayors, have been targeted in recent days during the urban riots triggered after the death of Nahel, killed by a police officer. To strengthen the protection of elected officials, the government is launching a plan of five million euros, announced Friday the Minister in charge of Territorial Communities Dominique Faure in an interview with the Monde.
This plan notably provides for making functional protection “automatic”. “Today, when a mayor takes legal action, it may incur costs and he may not have legal protection,” explains Dominique Faure. With this new measure, elected officials will no longer need to go through a deliberation of the municipal council, as is the case today, to benefit from it.
Insurance costs will also be borne by the State for all municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, compared to 3,500 today. An elected victim of aggression may also request psychological support for him or his family.
An emergency box
As part of the security pack announced in mid-May after the shock resignation of the mayor of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins (Loire-Atlantique), the target of intimidation, threats and an attack on his home, 1,769 mayors and a total of 5,159 elected officials registered in the file which triggers, in the event of an appeal, a more rapid intervention by the police.
To this will be added a “call button”, in the form of a small box “that you can slip into your pocket or hang inside your jacket”, describes the minister, in which five telephone numbers will be recorded and that elected officials will be able to act in the event of an attack.
Finally, three million euros will be used to install video surveillance cameras as well as devices “to secure the premises in front of the town hall or the mayor’s home”, after authorization from the public prosecutor, said the Minister of Territorial Communities.
As for the strengthening of criminal penalties, which will result in an alignment of penalties with those provided for in the event of violence against uniformed officers, it will be the subject of a law “in the fall”, declared Dominique Faure.
A “slight drop” in attacks
Among the other measures announced, cases of harassment against an elected official will be considered as an aggravating circumstance. In the event of a dismissal, the public prosecutor’s offices must “explain clearly and quickly” why the complaint was unsuccessful. The minister will present her plan with her twelve new measures this Friday, while traveling in Saône-et-Loire.
In 2022, 2,265 complaints and reports of verbal or physical violence against elected officials were recorded, up 32% compared to 2021, according to the Ministry of the Interior. But “we have observed a slight drop” since the start of 2023, assured Dominique Faure. “1,241 procedures have been opened. In 72% they are mayors, and even 87% if we extend to municipal councillors, ”added the minister.
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