what are the rules for police intervention when faced with a threatening person?

It was with gunfire that the police neutralized an attacker on the morning of Tuesday October 31 in Paris. The Internal Security Code provides that “agents of the national police and soldiers of the national gendarmerie can use their weapons in case of absolute necessity”. This may be in situations such as self-defense or to neutralize a dangerous individual while fleeing.

Neutralize the individual

But is there a specific framework? There is a specific protocol for dealing with terrorist threats. It is up to the first brigades to remove the attacker, and if necessary, to neutralize him. “We are asked when we use our weapon to neutralize. (…) We will fire the number of cartridges necessary to neutralize the person. We estimate approximately between five and ten cartridges necessary to neutralize a person”says Axel Ronde, CFTC Police spokesperson.

Among Our Sources

Internal security code, article L435-1

Sebastian Roché, research director at CNRS, author of “The unfinished nation. Youth facing school and the police” (Grasset). Former teacher at the ENSP (National Police Academy), he documented police shootings in situations of refusal to comply