Louis Jean-Baptiste Lépine (6 August 1846 – 9 November 1933) was a French lawyer, politician and administrator who was Governor General of Algeria and twice Préfet de Police with the Paris Police Prefecture from 1893 to 1897 and again from 1899 to 1913. On each occasion he assumed office during a period of instability in the governance of the French state seen by his supporters as a man who could bring order. He earned the nickname of "The Little Man with the Big Stick" for his methodology in handling large Parisian crowds. During his periods as Préfet de police he instigated a series of reforms that modernised the French Police Force . An efficient and clear-sighted administrator he introduced scientific analysis into policing with reforms in forensic science and the training of detectives.Lépine was also responsible for convening and re-invigorating the Exposition Universelle whereby an annual competition known as the Concours Lépine was introduced for inventors and innovators to have their work presented and acclaimed. An annual competition that has now had 120-plus editions.
Early life
Louis Lépine studied law in his home city of Lyon and in Paris and Heidelberg. He served with distinction in the French Army during the Franco-Prussian War from 1870 to 1871. Serving as a sergeant major at Belfort in the Alsace region, his unit was besieged and continually attacked by the Prussians. It surrendered only after the hostilities had ceased. Lépine was awarded the Médaille militaire for his bravery. He then embarked on a career as a lawyer and public administrator, that included provincial postings as deputy prefect of Lapalisse, Montbrison, Langres and Fontainebleau and then prefect of the Indres, the Loire and Seine-et-Oise.
The 1893 student uprising in Paris
In 1893 Lépine became prefect of police of the Seine (Paris) at a time when Paris and indeed France was politically volatile. The perceived failure of the previous Prefect Henri-Auguste Lozé to quell serious student riots in 1893 resulted in Lépine’s appointment. The riots that had taken place arose out of a trivial incident involving the arrest of an actress Sarah Brown, a student called Nuger and a confrontation with a policeman, the consequence of which was the death of Nuger. On the following Monday, 1,000 demonstrators marched onto the Chamber of Deputies, determined to be provided with an adequate explanation. The Deputies summarily retreated and by the evening a further 1,000 students were outside and by now the mood of the demonstrators had turned hostile. At the end of the day barricades were erected around the district of the Boulevard Saint-Germain.
The police had lost control of the situation and the National Guard was called in to regain control. Several days of bloodshed followed as several important workers’ organisations sided with the so-called students. Within five days of the arrest of Sarah Brown, the students were submerged within a violent mob that was ready to fight for control of Paris. The French Republic seemed in danger and reacted with extreme force with an estimated 20,000 troops deployed to quell the uprising. It was against this backdrop that Louis Lépine succeeded to the Prefecture of Police for Paris with a reputation as a disciplinarian prepared to use the "big stick" to keep Paris under control. Lépine’s tactics were to allow the various factions to march through Paris but he used skilful and innovative tactics of crowd control to make sure that the various factions were, in effect kept apart, arriving at the planned rendezvous in stages.