Tourism police to patrol Paris in safe city drive
Paris is to have police patrols dedicated to protecting tourists and a badge for businesses working with police for their security, officials announced on Monday.
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As tourism in the French capital recovers from the effects of the 2015-2016 terror attacks, police hace launched a campaign to convince visitors that "Paris is a safe city".
The plan, part of the national "tourism and security" programme launched by the previous government, has been endorsed by the city council, the Louvre Museum, the Chamber of Commerce and businesses such as LVMH.
Special tourist safety police units will patrol the most visited areas of the city and businesses, big and small, will be invited to cooperate with police.
They will be inspected to see if they have taken measures like employing specialist security staff and installing CCTV cameras, which may be linked to video-protection zones.If the pass, they will be awarded a "securisite" sticker to display.
Apart from terror attacks, Paris is the scene of crime that targets tourists, a situation it shares with all other large cities, according to an official statement launching the initiative.
The French capital is the world's most-visited city and the tourist sector provides 400,000 jobs.
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