Luxembourg’s parliament has approved legislation paving the way for local police units, following the success of pilot projects aimed at increasing police presence in neighbourhoods throughout the country.
The new law, debated on Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies, creates the legal framework for the initiative, which was first tested in Luxembourg City and Esch-sur-Alzette last year. The goal is to bring officers closer to residents and strengthen the public’s sense of security.
In the initial phase of the police locale project, launched in July last year, 20 additional police officers were deployed on the streets in Luxembourg City and four in Esch. During the pilot scheme, the officers were under the ultimate responsibility of the respective mayors, although this will not be the case with the new law.
Local police scheme set to launch in areas along Moselle
CSV deputy Michel Wolter, a former police minister, said the measure marks a return to the two principles set out in the 1999 Police Act — intervention and proximity — the latter of which, he argued, “has been increasingly lost over the past 20 years.”
“The law is a first step toward correcting that,” Wolter told lawmakers.
Pilot projects expanded
The local police model has since been been expanded to the Museldall region, covering municipalities such as Grevenmacher, Mertert, and Wormeldange. Home Affairs Minister Léon Gloden said the government will assess the results of the expansion by the end of this year.
Mayor wants more local police in the capital
Gloden said the reform is built around “four Ps” ; personnel, presence, proximity, and prevention. It aims to make the local units a permanent part of the national police structure, as pledged under a law introduced in 2018.
Luxembourg City alderman and CSV deputy Laurent Mosar said the change is already visible in the capital, with “more patrols in sensitive neighbourhoods” improving residents’ sense of safety.
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The law stops short of placing the new local units under municipal authority, which is a key demand from Syvicol, the association of municipalities, which called for a greater say in where and how units are deployed.
That position divided MPs. LSAP’s Dan Biancalana said public security “should remain in public hands,” supporting the decision to keep local units under national police control.
ADR’s Tom Weidig disagreed, calling mayoral authority “absolutely sensible,” while accusing mayors of avoiding responsibility for policing decisions.
(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Machine translated using AI, with editing and adaptation by Kabir Agarwal)
