Anti-terror cops getting bored in France

WASHINGTON: After the January terror attacks in Paris, France is still on high alert — but some of the police officers who are supposed to protect the nation are not.
Dozens of officers from Lyon, Nancy and Toulouse have collectively called in sick in the past few days, according to newspaper Le Parisien.
Police representatives argue that the reason for this is not a highly contagious disease but rather a feeling of boredom and dissatisfaction with having to stand guard for too long.
French media outlets quoted police union member Nicolas Comte as saying that the officers were “fed up” with their mission of patrolling in front of vulnerable sites such as synagogues day after day. “They are worried that they won’t be able to keep this pace over time,” Comte said. The riot police officers are not allowed to go on strike, which is why they chose to call in sick instead.
Speaking to French radio station Europe 1 at the beginning of March, French police expert Jean-Hugues Matelly said: “The men are tired and this fatigue keeps accumulating. ... The risk is that this will lead to a lack of vigilance, which means that when a real attack comes, we are not reactive and therefore unable to stop it.” Instead of patrolling in front of vulnerable buildings, the affected police officers want to spend more time with exercises to prepare for potential terror plots in the future.
Speaking to radio station RTL, Christian Barcouda, a ranking official of a police union in southern France, described the dire state of the affected police officers. “A psychological fatigue has accumulated among many colleagues which has led to a deterioration of their mental health,” he said. According to Barcouda, some officers have stood guard for two weeks without having days off.
After the attacks in January, the French government had started the Vigipirate programme, which is a nationwide system that places police and other authorities on high alert to protect the country from terrorist attacks.