They are courted on all sides. With the proliferation of offers, municipal police officers have become a scarce commodity. “In a post-attack context, many mayors wanted to equip themselves with a municipal police force,” explains Olivier Degeorges, director of public security training at the National Center for the Territorial Public Service.
The only body responsible for training municipal police officers organizes a competition every two years to recruit future officers. “To cope with the shortage, we opened an exceptional session last year,” explains Olivier Degeorges.
“With the competition, you have a 99% chance of being hired”
This year again, 190 places are available in Ile-de-France for the next competition which will take place from May 5. Places open internally (national police, public highway agents or gendarmes) and externally.
To access the first rank of the municipal police, candidates must pass a category C competition – accessible with a CAP or the college certificate – fairly selective. “There is first an admissibility phase with written tests, then oral admissions, sports events and psychotechnical tests. “
But, according to Olivier Degeorges, nothing to be discouraged. “The competition is not made to exclude! It’s not Sciences-po or the ENA. With good preparation, it is accessible to everyone, ”he says. Especially since “if you win the competition, you have a 99% chance of being hired. “
“To attract, we offer the maximum of premiums and indemnities”
A stable and fairly well paid job. If the salary of police officers is modeled on an index grid, municipalities tend to raise the stakes to attract candidates and retain them. “You have to be competitive,” explains Olivier Klein, the PS mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis). It took him a year to recruit his new eight-person municipal police force.
An “extremely reasonable” period, according to Laurence Molossi, deputy director general of the prevention and security commission of the city. “I was much more pessimistic,” she admits. But, to attract, we had no other choice than to offer the maximum in terms of premiums and compensation. This is what all mayors do. “
In Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis), creating a municipal police was one of the campaign promises of the mayor (UDI), Stéphane de Paoli, in 2014. The means were therefore put in and five years later, 20 municipal police officers occupy the premises of a former medical practice near the Pont de Bondy. “They will soon be 24”, welcomes Rosine Firozaly, deputy director of public tranquility in the city.
“We don’t have the means to align”
As each city can conduct its own policy, salaries can vary from 300 to 400 euros net per month from one municipality to another. “It’s huge”, loose Dominique Bailly, mayor (DVD) of Vaujours (Seine-Saint-Denis) and chairman of the security committee within the association of mayors of Ile-de-France.
