Armed municipal police in Saint-Nazaire: “this does not change our missions”

It appeared on the hip of sixteen of the 23 municipal police officers of Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique) Friday the 22nd May 2026. A Glock 17, semi-automatic pistol, category B weapon. The first to be lethalworn by the agents of the naval city. A real change. Still… Listening to the director of the service, Frédéric Gougaud, and the deputy Jean-Luc Séchet, the transition is real, but not overwhelming.

“We don’t draw our weapons to intimidate”

“Many of us already wore them in our former positions,†says Frédéric Gougaud. More than three quarters of them, in fact, since they come from the national police or the gendarmerie. But carrying a weapon as a municipal police officer does not have the same functions. “Everything is très cadré and must only be for self-defense or an imminent risk to a citizen. We don’t draw our weapons to intimidate,” emphasizes Jean-Luc Séchet.

Moreover, “this does not change our missions,” assures the director of the service.

Above all, it is about the safety of the agents. But their prerogatives remain the same, and remain very different from the municipal police.

In addition, the pistol completes an arsenal already available to police officers: “defense sticks”, tear gas generators, and, since 2018, electric pulse guns (in other words tasers). “This is one of the points that convinced us,” notes the deputy. There is no lethal or nothing.”

45 hours of training

When he says “we”, Jean-Luc Séchet means David Samzun. “It was first the mayor who made this decision and presented it to the municipal majority.” A real change for once since the first councilor had until then always been opposed to lethal weaponry. “The request came from the agents, given the increasing dangerousness of the situations to which they often arrive first.”

After a working group, reflection and a few visits to municipalities already equipped, the decision was made. It was still necessary to have authorization from the prefecture and to train the agents: 45 hours with a final exam, “300 cartridges fired in a shooting center”.. “This is what took the most time, since places are expensive in training.” Which explains only 16 out of 23 are currently armed. “Eventually, they all will be.”

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