When the announcement for the course was made, it drew in a remarkable two hundred applications. Seeing this enthusiastic response, the police are now considering expanding the program

in the future.

In a somewhat unexpected twist, an applicant for the university diploma in sociology, offered exclusively to police officers by the National Police at the University of Picardie-Jules-Verne, concluded their cover letter with the statement, "The safety of our fellow citizens is too serious a matter to be left in the hands of the police alone." Does humor have its place in the police force? Well, this unique application was accepted.

In a time when the relationship between the police and the public is a particularly sensitive issue, this specialized training program, designed solely for police officers, garnered remarkable interest as soon as the call for applications was initiated by the Police Academy (formerly known as the National Police Service Central Directorate for Recruitment and Training). In a matter of weeks, approximately two hundred applications flooded the desk of Mathieu Fiolet, a police sociologist since 2018 and the driving force behind the program. This overwhelming response was a frenzy that even he admitted he hadn't anticipated.

Fiolet noted, "More than a hundred applications showcased intriguing profiles, and the upper management supported the initiative." He further explained, "In only ten to fifteen cases did they express reservations, primarily due to service commitments or staffing constraints." The applicants, comprising 61% men and 39% women, hailed from various branches, including the border police, public security, judicial police, and even the protection service, reflecting widespread interest from authorities. Photo by Kristoffer Trolle from Copenhagen, Denmark, Wikimedia commons.