France: Les Républicains want armed municipal police in every town over 10,000

Ahead of the 2026 municipal elections, LR's security platform calls for every commune above 10,000 people to have an armed, trained municipal police force backed by AI-assisted CCTV; a separate LR-backed "presumption of legitimate use" firearms bill has drawn ~250,000 petition signatures against it.

France is building a genuinely municipal tier of armed policing — a very different model from the UK's nationally-organised, largely unarmed force — sharpening the UK debate on council enforcement powers and CCTV.