French president Emmanuel Macron unveiled a plan to bolster France's domestic security on Wednesday during a speech to police forces at the presidential Elysée Palace, reports FRANCE 24.
His proposals include the creation of a “daily security force” within the police, a plan to combat radicalisation and reforms to asylum procedures.
Speaking in front of 500 people, including police and gendarmerie commanders, Macron aimed to boost morale amongst France’s internal security forces, which have been strongly mobilised since the 2015 Paris terror attacks.
Macron began by paying tribute to the security forces and their “daily acts of heroism", pointing out that since the start of 2017, intelligence and security services had thwarted 13 terror attacks. Bruno Cautres a politics researcher at Sciences-Po, noted in an interview with FRANCE 24 that Macron used “many positive adjectives” about the police, gendarmerie and army, in a speech that paid “a clear tribute to the security forces”.
After observing that “there are now multiple forms of danger”, Macron went on to propose a raft of measures while also subtly linking internal security to both external security and immigration.
A key announcement was to employ 10,000 extra police and gendarmes. He also promised to give them more technology to use in operations. “Our challenge in the smartphone era is to give law enforcement appropriate digital tools.”
“That was clearly the [agenda]: to explain to the French that because of the new forms of terrorism, the missions of the security and police forces have been changed,” Cautres told FRANCE 24.