Safety has become one of the central issues in Paris’s upcoming municipal elections, scheduled for March 15 and 22, 2025. From police forces and video surveillance to prevention measures and staffing levels, we take a comprehensive look at each candidate’s proposals for Paris’s security future. Who’s promising what? Here’s everything you need to know!
Paris’s municipal elections are set for Sunday, March 15, with a second round scheduled for March 22, 2026. This election will introduce a significant change in the voting process. Parisian voters will need to cast two separate ballots—one to choose district councilors and another for Paris city councilors—a new approach that will reshape voting habits. The outcome will influence the political landscape of the capital for the next six years.
Housing, Economy, Cleanliness, Education, Culture... These are all topics that the candidates in this municipal election will also need to address... Among the main concerns of Parisians, safety often ranks high. In Paris, safety directly impacts residents’ daily lives — including municipal police, public space tranquility, compliance with civil conduct, preventing petty crime, transport and school security, etc.
The City of Paris has several tools at its disposal that effectively shape local security:
- Municipal Police: Although its powers are limited by the state, the city council can choose to strengthen the force, increase staffing, enhance armament, and expand its responsibilities.
- Video Surveillance and Technical Equipment: The municipality can invest in camera systems, alert buttons, or technologies in partnership with the police prefecture.
- Partnerships and Coordination: Collaborations with the police prefecture, government services, district councils, and specialized community organizations.
- Preventive Policies: Educational initiatives, mediation programs, public lighting, and urban planning measures aimed at reducing risky behaviors.
Actions that directly affect Parisians, residents of Île-de-France, and passing tourists. If safety is a priority for you, Sortiraparis has compiled a list of proposals from the candidates running in the 2026 Municipal Elections in Paris. This way, you'll have all the information you need to make an informed decision when the time comes, at the ballot box.
Proposals Focused on Security for the 2026 Paris Municipal Elections
Please note that these proposals are regularly updated as programs are published and candidates are announced. In some cases, detailed measures may not yet be specified in publicly available sources; such omissions are duly noted.
Pierre-Yves Bournazel (Horizons – Supported by Renaissance)
- Tripling the number of municipal police officers in Paris, increasing from 2,200 to 6,000 agents. (Source: CNEWS)
- Equipping municipal police officers with firearms such as pistols and providing necessary gear for their duties. (Source: CNEWS)
- Making municipal police operational 24/7 with a dedicated hotline. (Source: CNEWS)
- Expanding the authority of municipal police to include identifying offenses, issuing fines, and using automated tools like license plate readers. (Source: Le Parisien)
- Creating a drone unit in collaboration with the police prefecture to monitor key zones and support patrols. (Source: CNEWS)
- Testing and deploying algorithmic video surveillance across city cameras for enhanced security. (Source: CNEWS)
- Systematically installing security cameras outside schools and colleges. (Source: Valeurs Actuelles)
- Installing emergency buttons inside schools connected directly to police stations. (Source: Valeurs Actuelles)
- Prioritizing social housing access for newly recruited municipal officers to improve retention. (Source: CNEWS)
- Ensuring regular police presence in the metro every evening, supplementing transit police, especially to combat violence and even sexual assault. (Source: Europe1)
- Establishing a dedicated canine unit aimed at intercepting traffickers and destroying seized goods. (Source: Le Parisien)
- Deploying municipal police in social housing common areas to address nuisances and incivilities. (Source: Le Parisien)
- Pushing for targeted administrative closures of businesses involved in money laundering, with plans to repurpose these sites into quality shops, health centers, or cultural venues. (Source: Europe1)
Blandine Chauvel (NPA)
No concrete proposals or specific security measures have been announced on the party’s website as of February 4, 2026.
Sophia Chikirou (La France Insoumise - New Paris for the People)
- Implement a municipal charter that strictly regulates police interventions, explicitly banning discriminatory practices or racial profiling, and ensuring transparency, proper training for officers, and mechanisms for reporting and sanctions. (Source: official candidate site)
- Introduce mobile legal aid centers to facilitate complaint filings and provide legal support. (Source: official candidate site)
- Engage in demanding institutional dialogue with the state to guarantee the protection of civil rights. (Source: official candidate site)
- Establish local hubs that bring together municipal police, mediators, educators, and social workers within Neighborhood Centers. (Source: official candidate site)
- Increase the police force to approximately 3,500 officers. (Source: official candidate site)
- Introduce new ranks and pay grades for municipal officers, along with enhanced salaries and bonuses.
- Reject the arming of municipal police with lethal weapons. (Source: official candidate site)
- Double the number of specialized educators by 2029 to boost mediation and prevention efforts in neighborhoods. (Source: official candidate site)
- Negotiate with the police commissioner to revise crowd control policies, prioritizing de-escalation over repressive tactics. (Source: official candidate site)
Rachida Dati (The Republicans/Modem/UDI)
- Establish a force of 5,000 armed and trained municipal police officers to combat daily crime, doubling current staffing levels. (Source: Official Candidate Website)
- Ensure police presence around the clock across the entire city with these armed municipal officers. (Source: Official Candidate Website)
- Deploy 8,000 surveillance cameras to boost street monitoring, especially around schools, middle schools, and sports facilities. (Source: Official Candidate Website)
- Close the Champ-de-Mars at night with fences, a measure aimed at reducing assaults and illegal activities in the area. (Source: Le Parisien)
- Create a dedicated mounted police unit to patrol the Champ-de-Mars as well as Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, including a comprehensive plan with additional cameras and improved lighting. (Sources: Le Parisien, Le JDD)
- Enhance the safety and monitoring of schools through dedicated systems such as cameras and increased police presence. (Source: Official Candidate Website)
- Expand the powers of municipal police: conduct identity checks, access national databases, tackle petty misconduct, and address minor delinquency. (Source: Le JDD)
- Create municipal safety patrols in middle schools, composed of civilians tasked with preventing harassment and fights. (Source: Le JDD)
- Implement a City Surveillance Center (CSU) in each district to centralize CCTV feeds and enhance response times. (Source: Le Journal du Grand Paris)
- Introduce stricter penalties for deliberate acts of vandalism within the city, reinforcing security and public order. (Source: Le Journal du Grand Paris)
Emmanuel Grégoire (Left-wing Union: PS – Socialist Party, PCF, Green Parties, Place publique, L’Après)
- Increase the presence of municipal police around the clock in all neighborhoods, beyond the deployment of mobile police kiosks inspired by Japanese kōban stations, in each arrondissement and at the city's most problematic hotspots. (Source: Le Parisien + official candidate site)
- Recruit 1,000 additional municipal police officers to bring total staffing to around 5,000 agents. (Source: Le Parisien)
- Improve street lighting in certain neighborhoods to enhance the feeling of safety, especially to ensure women can move around safely at all hours. (Source: Le Parisien)
- Install alert buttons at bus shelters—and integrate them into broader security systems—to streamline incident reporting and boost safety measures. (Source: Le Parisien and official candidate site)
- Enhance video surveillance at sensitive sites by deploying up to 500 additional tactical cameras. (Source: Le Parisien)
- Establish a dedicated "specialized unit for complex sites" operating in strategically crucial locations such as Champ de Mars, Montmartre, and Rosa Parks district. (Source: Le Parisien)
- Create specialized municipal police units, including:
- Anti-uncivility patrols
- Mobile patrols
- Nighttime patrols
- Mounted police units
- Teams dedicated to complex sites
(Source: official candidate site)
- Prioritize combating violence against women and sexual harassment in public spaces to make the city safer for everyone. (Source: official candidate's website)
- Implement a public lighting plan developed in collaboration with women users to enhance safety, especially in outdoor areas at night. (Source: official candidate's website)
- Create a network of "safe places" where people can seek refuge in case of distress or violence in public. (Source: official candidate's website)
- Strengthen coordination between the municipal police, social workers, and healthcare professionals to address complex situations such as drug issues and mental health crises, combining prevention, support, and targeted enforcement. (Source: official candidate's website)
- Establish a clear and demanding partnership with the State and the police prefecture, aimed at removing operational obstacles for municipal police and ensuring the involvement of national police in fighting crime and drug trafficking. (Source: official candidate's website)
Sarah Knafo (Reconquête)
- Doubling the number of municipal police officers to reach 8,000 agents.
- Equipping the municipal police with firearms.
- Implementing a policy of systematic arrests and fines for offenses within municipal jurisdiction.
- Deploying artificial intelligence technologies to analyze video surveillance footage.
- Establishing a mounted municipal patrol unit.
- Creating a municipal K-9 unit.
- Enhancing and maintaining a permanent police presence in neighborhoods identified as sensitive or lawless zones.
- Reclaiming major tourist areas (Champ-de-Mars, Trocadéro, Montmartre) with continuous patrols.
- Improving security at Paris train stations.
- Installing smart streetlights equipped with anti-aggression sensors.
- Maintaining continuous nighttime public lighting with adjustable brightness levels.
- Allowing the lighting of shop windows during the night.
- Strengthening municipal police presence in public transportation, in coordination with the region.
- Dismantling illegal occupations of municipal property
- Cutting municipal funding to shelters for illegal migrants.
- Enforcing strict municipal controls on procedures for residence permits, short-stay visas, and family reunification, within the mayor’s scope of authority.
(Source: official candidate website)
Thierry Mariani (National Rally - UDR)
- Increase the size of the municipal police force and boost patrols to ensure a 24/7 presence across the city. (Source: official candidate’s website)
- Establish specialized units to address various security threats: anti-squatting, drug enforcement, illegal camps, transportation issues, traffic, Rapid Action Brigade (BAR), and district police. (Source: official candidate’s website)
- Implement a strict zero-tolerance policy on trafficking, disturbances, and insecurity in public spaces. (Source: official candidate’s website)
- Avoid mass migration, crack down on illegal camps, occupations, and requisitions involving undocumented migrants. (Source: official candidate’s website)
- Double the police force and equip officers with firearms to better prevent violence, theft, and assaults, including in public transportation. (Source: official candidate’s website)
Marielle Saulnier (Worker’s Struggle)
As of February 4, 2026, the candidate's official website still lacks any concrete proposals or measures explicitly focused on security.
All that's left is to go through these suggestions for the upcoming municipal elections!
To help you better understand the key issues concerning Paris's city management ahead of the upcoming municipal elections, we've put together a comprehensive overview by topic. You can find all these themes summarized below!
2026 Paris Municipal Elections: Candidate Program Proposals by Theme
The municipal elections are just around the corner, and you're eager to learn more about the candidates’ platforms for the Paris city hall? We've got you covered. Explore their proposals by theme—security, housing, environment, education, culture—and see where each candidate stands! [Read more]
2026 Paris Municipal Elections: Candidate Program Proposals by Theme
