France will rally together after attacks; policing expert

The French population will quickly pull together and work with authorities to recover from the country's latest terrorist attacks, according to a Western Sydney University policing expert who has worked with the Prefecture of Police in Paris.

Professor Michael Kennedy is a former detective with the NSW Police Organised Crime Squad, and is currently researching counter-radicalisation with the NSW Counter-Terrorism Unit.

He says the nature of French society will help the population recover from the series of co-ordinated terror attacks in Paris, which have left over 100 people dead.

"The President may have called a state of emergency, but the French are very organised and sensible and will work together to support each other, as well as the authorities," says Professor Kennedy.

"The priority for the French police is to now bring stability back to the country, which has grown used to terrorism in the past century."

"The good news is that the French police force is extremely well coordinated, and has the freedom to be creative in solving crimes and protecting the public."

Professor Kennedy says questions will asked of the French intelligence agencies over the attacks, but it's incredibly hard to predict when they will occur.

"The nature of European borders and the amount of threats there make it extremely difficult to monitor and prevent terrorism," he says.

"Thankfully the French media is very mature, and won't stoke panic among a population that has unfortunately grown used to these types of attacks."

"France is very strong ethically and philosophically, and hopefully it can recover from this latest violence without restricting the freedoms and liberties that make it so resilient."

Ends

14 November 2015

Mark Smith, Senior Media Officer