Paris police officers have a new chief. Following Wednesday's cabinet confirmation of his nomination by President Macron, Laurent Nuñez takes over from the controversial Didier Lallement, who is retiring a few weeks short of his 66th birthday.
Laurent Nuñez will have no trouble finding his new office.
He worked as administrative director to the Paris police chief between 2012 and 2015, before himself becoming the top officer in the Bouches-de-Rhone department, centred on the southern port city of Marseille.
He takes over the direction of policing in the French capital, having served as National Coordinator of Anti-Terrorist Intelligence and, before that, as state secretary to the then Interior Minister, Christophe Castaner.
A graduate of the prestigious Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA), the finishing school for top French civil servants, Nuñez is 58 years old and has spent most of his career attached to the Interior Ministry. He is a specialist in anti-terrorist security.
Nuñez replaces Didier Lallement whose management of public order, notably at the height of the Yellow Vest protests, was frequently criticised as excessively muscular.
Champions League chaos
The departure of Lallement is not linked to the fiasco at the Stade de France football ground before the recent final of the Champions League, when there were violent clashes between security officers and fans with valid tickets.
Lallement has indicated for some time his intention to stand down by 27 August at the very latest, the date of his 66th birthday.
Nuñez faces several major challenges, not least the preparations for the 2024 Olympic Games, with the security nightmare represented by the vast opening ceremony planned to take place on the river Seine in central Paris.
He takes over a force of 30,000 officers, frequently accused of excessive violence.
And he was not the candidate favoured by Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, who is understood to have recommended Nicolas Lerner, the head of the Internal Security operation, DGSI.
President Emmanuel Macron decided otherwise.
Nuñez does have a certain number of advantages. He knows the corridors of the Paris police headquarters inside-out. He has friends and supporters at every level of the hierarchy.
He has a reputation for professionalism among the rank and file, even if his backgroaund as a graduate of ENA distances him from the average serving policeman.
The police representative unions have unanimously welcomed his appointment.
