France urges 'patriots' to join police reserve
July 17, 2016
The government plans to "reinforce the presence" of the police and the army due to the recent attack in Nice, Minister Cazeneuve said on Saturday.
Currently, France has 12,000 volunteers serving in police reserve, with 3,000 of them assigned to the regular police and 9,000 to the national gendarmerie. The recruitment is traditionally aimed at former soldiers and people related to the army.
"I want to call on all French patriots who wish to do so, to join this operational reserve," Cazeneuve said.
Following his statement, the gendarmerie posted details on the recruitment process on their website. The future reservists must be between 17 and 30 years of age, have the right physical and moral aptitude and go through military training.
Enemies of 'Islamic State'
The new members would be active during the summer, when regular reservists are on holiday, according to Cazeneuve.
The interior minister also said that the government would call up on the current reserve to improve security, adding to some 120,000 security forces already deployed after the Nice attack.
Both the nation's security services and the administration of President Francois Hollande came under fire after the Nice attack, which marks third time in the last 18 months that Islamic terrorists successfully targeted France.
As with the Charlie Hebdo shooting and the Bataclan attacks, the "Islamic State" terror group claimed responsibility for the most recent strike.
dj/bw (AFP, AP, dpa)