A parliamentary inquiry report recommends better training for police officers, almost a year after the fatal police shooting of a teenager in France and the serious unrest that followed.
The report, presented Wednesday at the Assemblée Nationale in Paris, said training should be expanded and that stress management and defusing conflict, especially during traffic stops, should become part of basic and advanced police training.
In addition, the police’s technical resources to stop cars during a check must be expanded and patrol cars must be equipped with cameras.
The investigation was launched after the death of 17-year-old Nahel during a traffic stop in Nanterre, near Paris, in June last year. Two officers had stopped the teenager for driving too fast in a car on a bus lane.
When the teenager suddenly drove away, one of the police officers shot him dead. This was followed by serious riots and protests against police brutality in France. The police officer who fired the shot remains under investigation on suspicion of first-degree murder.
The study also focused on whether relaxed regulations on the use of weapons at traffic stops led to an increase in police shootings in 2017.
On average, this does not seem to be the case. Only in less than one percent of the cases in which drivers ignored a police stop sign did they use a weapon.
