Municipal in Paris: does the city have fewer police officers than in 2014?

Every day, as part of the municipal elections, Le Parisien scrutinizes a candidate's declaration.

“These figures are indisputable. To defend her record in terms of security, one of the concerns of Parisians, Anne Hidalgo blamed the Obs on February 6 for the drop in the police force in the capital. These charges have been verified.

What Anne Hidalgo said

The mayor of Paris wants to be formal in her interview. According to her, "in 2018, there were 273 police officers present at the moment T in the streets of Paris, against 439 in 2014". The elected representative, who is running for municipal elections in March for a second term, judges that this drop is partly responsible for the increase in crime in the capital. "We no longer see police officers on the public highway!" She exclaims flatly.

Court of Auditors report

The mayor of Paris is in fact based on a report from the Court of Auditors concerning the Paris Prefecture of Police, dated December 2019. The “PP” is in charge of the police in the inner suburbs, that is to say say in Paris and in the three neighboring departments.

We find in this fairly critical report the figures put forward by Anne Hidalgo, i.e. 273 police officers at time T in Paris in 2018, and 439 in 2014 (38% decrease in five years). They are agents of the Directorate of proximity security of the Paris agglomeration (DSPAP), in charge of the fight against crime, against delinquency, and other crimes against property and people.

More police at time T than in the small crown

This same report by the Court of Auditors gives the number of police officers at time T in the three other departments of the outer suburbs. In 2018, there were 130 in Hauts-de-Seine, 189 in Seine-Saint-Denis, and 126 in Val-de-Marne.

This number has, on each occasion, dropped much less compared to 2014 than in Paris. But these three departments, less populated than Paris (between 1.4 and 1.6 million inhabitants, against more than two million in the capital intra muros), still have fewer police officers at the moment T.

Many more active police officers in Paris

If we look at all the active police officers, in 2018, there were 38 per 10,000 inhabitants in Paris, compared to 14 in Hauts-de-Seine, 16 in Val-de-Marne, and 20 in Seine-Saint -Denis, still according to the Court of Auditors.

Outside Île-de-France, this ratio is 20 police officers per 10,000 inhabitants in Marseille, and 16 per 10,000 inhabitants in Lille. In comparison with the bordering departments and with two of the largest French cities, Paris is therefore the best endowed in police force in proportion to the population. But it was she who experienced the most significant drop in the workforce present at time T on the street.

In summary

The number of police officers at time T in Paris, as Anne Hidalgo says, fell sharply between 2014 and 2018, going from 439 to 273.

In proportion, the drop in staff was greater in the capital than in the other three departments of the outer suburbs, but Paris is still better equipped with police.