This archive report was first published on 1 November 2019.
Following the fatal knife attack at Paris Police Headquarters on October 3, 2019, French authorities have taken steps to address concerns about radicalization within the security forces.
Seven police officers have been ordered to hand over their weapons, and at least one employee has been suspended, according to the police chief, Didier Lallement.
Agents have raised more concerns about colleagues' behavior in the past three weeks than in the previous seven years combined, Lallement told a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday.
Mr. Lallement said 33 reports had been generated, leading to the officers being stripped of their weapons, and he had recommended two other officers be suspended.
The hearing was called in an effort to find out why the attacker, Mickaël Harpon, a 45-year-old computer technician, had not been singled out earlier as a threat.
Harpon had shown signs of radicalization, including telling a colleague, “Serves them right,” after the 2015 attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
However, colleagues did not file any formal complaints, and no measures were taken against him.
Security experts warned that the authorities needed to strike a balance between increased vigilance and avoiding religious discrimination in a country where suspicions against Muslims have festered, especially since a series of terror attacks in 2015.
