Muslim Police Officers in France Face Scrutiny After Paris Attack

The situation going through the French police is not enviable, especially as regards the agents of the Muslim faith.

All the ingredients are in place to make life difficult for these police officers since two weeks ago when the Paris Police Headquarters was the target of the attack by Mickaël Harpon, which caused four deaths and one serious injury.

On BFMTV, a Muslim official notably denounced "a heavy climate and suspicious looks". "I was asked if I could give an idea of the personnel who might have become radicalized. There is a kind of paranoia setting in. Many reports are being made," regrets Mehdi, a police officer who has been on the job for about twenty years.

The daily life of this Muslim civil servant, like that of many of his colleagues, is dominated by a persistent fear.

"We tell ourselves that one day, for any jealousy, maybe a colleague will blow the whistle on something we haven’t done. Meanwhile, the precautionary principle will prevail and we will probably be sidelined. We may have problems in our careers," he worries.

For Mehdi, it is especially the case of the young recruits that is worrying. "What scares me is for those who are going to arrive," he observes, while nevertheless expressing a certain confidence regarding the old-timers: "I have some seniority and I am lucky to be, I think, appreciated by my colleagues. They won’t do it to me," reports BFM TV.