Paris to Hire Security Guards to Patrol Unsafe Public Spaces

The city of Paris has announced new measures to improve safety in low-income areas, including hiring security guards to patrol various public spaces.

The city plans on hiring around 35 security officers to patrol areas like public squares, subway station entrances and other areas in some of the city’s northern neighbourhoods where migrants often camp and the streets have become dangerous for women, Le Parisien reports.

The Place de la Chapelle and the areas around it are specifically mentioned due to prior complaints by women living in the area that they were being threatened and harassed by migrant men.

In November, a local woman complained, “The situation has worsened. Of course, since these men are more and more numerous. Like many others, I gave up taking the metro to La Chapelle, to cross the square … Even at a running pace.”

“And do not talk about cafes. They do not say ‘Women Prohibited’ on the front, of course, but who would risk it? The police are more present, it’s true, but the fights are also more and more numerous and violent,” she said.

The city is also working to prevent the distribution of food to migrants when they act disorderly. The city mandated the Aurore association to take over food distribution after a previous organisation gave up due to the rising tide of violence from the illegal migrants they were trying to help.

“These neighbourhoods have been confronted with repeated crises: refugees, the return of crack, isolated Moroccan minors at risk. After a wide consultation and many exchanges in the field, we have targeted strong measures, quickly deployable, to improve things,” city government official Emmanuel Grégoire said.

Grégoire added that the city would invest more in the neighbourhoods to combat unemployment, saying, “we are starting a training program of one million euros per 1000 inhabitants of working-class neighbourhoods so that they can take advantage of the mass of jobs that will be created as part of the Olympic Games.”

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