Stormy debate during the municipal council of the city of Angers (Maine-et-Loire), Monday, October 25. During this meeting, elected officials discussed at length a hot topic: that of equipping the municipal police with Defense Ball Launchers (LBD). It was the security assistant, Jeanne Behre Robinson, who launched the debate, presenting a security situation “which is evolving in Angers”. “The municipal night police are dealing with an increasingly complicated context of intervention”. The Angers deputy evokes more and more frequent and dangerous urban violence for the local police force, taking as examples “ambushes”, “barricades”, in the face of “hostile individuals and in groups”.
Established since 2014, the municipal night police are already equipped with telescopic batons, tear gas canisters and electric pulse guns, as well as pedestrian cameras. But faced with growing insecurity situations, the city wants to “complete this defensive equipment” by purchasing four LBDs for its night agents, for a total amount of € 10,000. As a reminder, these are not LBDs used by the national police. These are equipped with felt balls, not rubber.
“Four LBDs won’t solve the problem”
Winds up, the municipal opposition believes that this weapon returns to “missions of maintenance of order which fall exclusively under the national police force”, explains Claire Schweitzer. “Arming the municipal police is not the solution. Four LBDs will not solve the problem and may even have an escalating effect, ”adds Arash Saeidi, elected opposition member. For its part, the municipal majority believes that it must above all protect its agents. And this weapon would allow, according to her, “to improve their working conditions”. “Today, more than half of municipal police forces in France are equipped with lethal equipment. This is not the choice we are making, ”concludes the security assistant, whose proposal won the majority of votes. The opposition voted against.