Panic in schools. Three days after the assassination, in Arras (Pas-de-Calais) of a teacher by a radicalized young man, the government took, urgently, a series of measures intended to improve the security of schools, colleges and high schools. The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, notably decided to “raise the Vigipirate posture to the emergency attack level”. For the police, this implies “strengthening surveillance and control around educational establishments”, indicates a document signed by Céline Berthon, the deputy director general of the national police, consulted by 20 minutes. Officials are notably invited to carry out “identity checks” and “vehicle searches” around these training locations.
“The physical security of” educational establishments must “remain a permanent mission” of the police “as part of their daily patrols,” insists the divisional commissioner. Céline Berthon also asks her troops to immediately assess “the needs of the educational community” during meetings organized with school heads. These meetings could lead, she writes, to the “carrying out of security audits”, “the development” of “shared security diagnostics” and “the organization, in schools, of “attack-intrusion” exercises. “involving the national police”. In her note, she also asks the police to analyze “weak or strong signals” and to provide “information for any fact that could be linked to the fight against terrorism”.
“Gantries”, “vigils”, “video surveillance”
The Minister of Education, for his part, announced the deployment of 1,000 security personnel from the ministry in schools. This is a system created in 2010 and intended to combat school violence. Concerning the security of these school buildings, Gabriel Attal announced, Sunday evening, on TF1, that he will bring together “all local authorities” this week to discuss “without taboos”. “There are plenty of avenues, solutions that are on the table,” he explained, referring to “porticos”, “vigils”, or “video surveillance”. According to our information, the minister plans to meet, on Tuesday morning, representatives of education union organizations in order to take stock with them of the (recurring) issue of the security of educational establishments.
“We are not against the idea of installing gantries at entrances. This would solve some problems, but not all,” explains 20 minutes Maxime Reppert, national vice-president of Snalc (national union of middle and high schools). “Already, I am not sure that it is feasible to put them everywhere, because it is expensive and it takes time,” notes the trade unionist, who deplores that we enter these places “like in a mill”. According to him, there is a “staff shortage” in schools, “and not just teachers”. “But it’s not just that. Today, when a teacher suspects a student of having something in his bag, he cannot, because the bag is private property. » Maxime Reppert deplores the fact that “objects which have no place in schools” such as “bladed weapons or fireworks mortars” are regularly discovered.
Do not “bunkerize” the school
For her part, Elisabeth Allain-Moreno, general secretary of the SE-UNSA union, notes that “not all establishments are equipped with emergency devices”. It is, she explains, an “alarm which notifies everyone of an intrusion, and which indicates that everyone must stay indoors and which notifies the police”. For her, the installation of gates at the entrance to schools, colleges or high schools is not “sufficient”. “Staff are needed to monitor entrances and exits”. She adds that installing surveillance cameras is of no use if no one watches the live images. Finally, the trade unionist considers it necessary to better train staff for this type of dangerous situation, by allowing them to acquire good “reflexes”. The idea, she said, is not to “bunkerize” the school, but to ensure “a minimum of security” so that students and staff are “serene” within its walls.