According to police unions around half of France’s 21,000 municipal police, who patrol some 3,500 local towns and villages across the country, are armed. The murder of a priest in a suburb of Rouen and massacre of 84 people in Nice has prompted the mayors of many small towns across France to arm the local police. This week the mayors of Pau, Belfort and Thonon-les-Bains were just three who have decided to allow the local municipal police to carry guns. In France the national police and the gendarmerie carry arms and the law allows for the municipal police, a local police force, to carry arms, but the decision must be taken locally. The terrorist murder of two off-duty police officials at their home in the town of Magnanville in June, will also no doubt have had an impact on the decision-making of local mayors.

Source: The Local August 02, 2016 08:48 UTC