Smartphone “alert buttons” to protect tobacconists in Nice

Faced with a rise in assaults and in illegal tobacco trafficking, the city of Nice has launched an unprecedented initiative: equipping the town’s tobacconists with an alert button directly accessible on their smartphone. The system is designed to let them call for help quickly in the event of danger, through a direct link with the municipal police. Here is an overview of this innovative measure: its background, how it works, the reasons behind it, the players involved and the outlook for retailer safety.

Background: Nice responds to assaults and the black market

At the start of 2026, the city of Nice signed an agreement with the Alpes-Maritimes federation of tobacconists in order to improve security in local tobacconists’ shops. It is a first in France: for the first time, a local authority is committing itself alongside tobacconists through a dedicated partnership. The initiative comes against a background of growing concern within the trade, which faces two major problems: violence (armed robberies, thefts and antisocial behaviour) and cigarette smuggling.

On the one hand, tobacconists in Nice, like their colleagues across France, feel increasingly exposed to violent criminal acts. These shops, often open from dawn until late in the evening, handle cash and high-value goods (cigarettes, gambling products and so on), which makes them prime targets for robbers. On the other hand, they face competition from a parallel tobacco market fed by the illegal sale of cheap cigarettes. In Nice, many “night grocers” and other informal businesses sell tobacco clandestinely, sometimes even by the unit and without any age check. The phenomenon is reaching an alarming scale: close to 40% of the tobacco sold is said to come from illegal trade according to estimates (up to 50% in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region according to one manufacturer, although that figure is disputed). In 2025, a collection of empty packs revealed that 53.9% of the cigarettes found in the streets came from smuggling.

The consequence for official retailers is doubly damaging. Economically, some tobacconists see their turnover fall by 20 to 40% in districts affected by parallel trafficking. In terms of safety, this smuggling often goes hand in hand with crime: break-ins at tobacconists’ shops to supply the black market, assaults on retailers who stand up to traffickers, a climate of intimidation. That is why the trade is sounding the alarm and calling for more protection. The city of Nice, already heavily involved in public safety, has therefore decided to act.

Nice has 93 tobacconists on its territory, and the council led by mayor Christian Estrosi has made protecting them a priority. The agreement signed on 30 January 2026 provides for stepping up checks on illegal tobacco sellers and helping tobacconists to make their premises more secure. That is the framework for the flagship measure: making available alert buttons connected directly to the municipal police.

How do the alert buttons work?

An example of an anti-assault alert unit installed near the till. This type of device, now accessible through a smartphone, sends an immediate signal to the municipal police monitoring centre.

The principle of the alert button is simple: in a serious emergency (armed robbery, assault, imminent threat), the tobacconist can trigger a silent alarm to the police at the press of a button. In practice, the system is linked to the Nice urban supervision centre (CSU), the unit that manages the city’s extensive video surveillance network. As soon as the alert is triggered, several actions follow automatically:

• Cameras redirected: the municipal cameras near the shop instantly turn towards it, in order to film the scene and any escaping offenders. Thanks to these live images, the CSU can follow the situation in real time and guide the police response.
• Audio monitoring: a microphone connected to the system picks up the sound inside the shop. CSU operators and police officers can hear what is happening (voices, threats, the sound of weapons and so on), which makes it easier to assess how serious the incident is and to identify the attackers.
• Alert to patrols: at the same time, the nearest municipal police units are alerted and head towards the shop in danger. According to initial feedback, officers can arrive in less than five minutes after the alarm is triggered, a crucial delay when it comes to stopping attackers or making them flee.

It is important to stress that these emergency buttons must be used only in critical situations, when people or property are in immediate danger. They do not replace ordinary means of contact (telephone, calling 17) for minor problems or low-level nuisance. Each alert mobilises police resources as a priority, hence the need to reserve the system for extreme cases (armed assault, robbery in progress, death threat and so on).

Technically, until now the city of Nice provided this service through a physical unit installed in the shop. That unit, fitted with a button and a SIM card, was permanently connected to the CSU. The innovation now is to work through a dedicated mobile application installed on the tobacconist’s smartphone. In December 2025 the city launched an application called VigiNice, to modernise its alert system and gradually replace the 1,700 units already in service in Nice. The application, developed by a specialist French company, offers the same functions as the old unit: a virtual emergency button whose activation sends a direct alert to the CSU, with simultaneous transmission of location data and access to cameras. A test phase is under way at several pilot sites before a general rollout in 2026. In time, every tobacconist in Nice will therefore be able to have this alert button on their smartphone, without needing an additional device. Installing the system and connecting it to the municipal network will be covered free of charge by the city of Nice (through its IT department), with the retailer paying only for the equipment itself and the mobile subscription required.

Clear motives: protecting retailers on the front line

Why a measure aimed specifically at tobacconists? Because these local retailers are unfortunately on the front line when it comes to assaults. The national figures speak for themselves: in 2024 alone, more than 1,400 armed robberies of retail premises were recorded (a significant share of them tobacconists’ shops), up 13.7% on the previous year. Alongside this, around 2,000 burglaries of tobacconists’ shops are said to take place every year in France. This daily insecurity translates into real anxiety for tobacconists. Many describe working in fear, having already suffered several assaults during their career. One manager in the Drôme, for example, said she had been held up four times in 20 years, adding that “we should not have to work in this kind of fear” (according to a report on TF1).

Several factors explain why tobacconists’ shops are particularly targeted:

• The value of the tobacco and of the till: with the constant increase in the price of cigarettes in France (a pack of Marlboro now approaching 13 €), a tobacconist’s stock represents a very attractive haul for thieves. These shops also handle a fair amount of cash, which attracts robbers. The authorities are seeing a resurgence in robberies of tobacconists alongside price rises.
• Vulnerable premises: tobacconists are often alone behind the counter, in small premises with easy access from a street-facing shop window. They open early in the morning (when the streets are quiet) and close late in the evening, which leaves windows of opportunity for criminal acts. Some robberies take place within a few dozen seconds, leaving no time to react. An alert button can then make the difference by summoning help immediately, where a conventional telephone call would be too slow or impossible under threat.
• A sense of isolation: in rural areas in particular (45% of the 2,671 tobacconists in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region are in the countryside), tobacco retailers can be a long way from the police. An effective alert system is reassuring, because it guarantees that a call for help will be heard instantly, even if the shop is remote or not very visible. In towns, some tobacconists are located in difficult districts where drug or cigarette trafficking is concentrated, which adds to daily stress.

Finally, tobacco smuggling adds a less direct but equally worrying layer of insecurity. The criminal networks that feed the black market do not hesitate to commit organised thefts to obtain cigarettes (there have been cases of a ram raid smashing through the front of a tobacconist’s shop at night). The presence of street sellers near some outlets also creates tension. Tobacconists who report these illegal activities may fear reprisals. The partnership set up in Nice is precisely intended to break that sense of abandonment: tobacconists now know that they have dedicated contacts within the municipal police to support them if a problem arises. The council’s stated objective is to ensure greater safety for tobacconists’ shops while strengthening, in concrete terms, the fight against parallel markets.

Players and partners in the project

Several players are involved in making this “alert button” system work:

• The city of Nice – Driven by mayor Christian Estrosi and his deputy in charge of security, the council initiated and is funding the infrastructure of the project. The Nice urban supervision centre (CSU), already equipped with several thousand cameras, is at the heart of the surveillance system and receives the alerts. The city’s IT services install and configure the equipment in the shops.
• The municipal police – The operational arm of the system, it receives the alert in real time and intervenes on the ground. In Nice, the municipal police has substantial staff numbers and fine-grained territorial coverage. Once the button is activated, CSU staff pass the alert to the nearest patrols for immediate intervention. The municipal police will also work closely with tobacconists: the agreement provides for dedicated contacts to receive their reports (when a retailer spots street selling nearby, for example).
• Tobacconists and their representatives – The Alpes-Maritimes federation of tobacconists (chaired by Pierre Romero) is a signatory to the agreement. It acts as an interface, listing the shops that volunteer, passing information on to members and organising training sessions. The national confederation of tobacconists, through the presence of its president Serdar Kaya at the signing in Nice, actively supports the initiative. This follows on from a broader commitment by the trade in favour of security (a national agreement with the interior ministry already exists to improve the safety of outlets and tackle the parallel market).
• Technology partners – The technical side relies on specialist companies. Historically, the Nice-based company ServiceBip developed anti-assault units (ServiceSOS) deployed in shops in Nice from 2016 with the council’s support. Today, the move to a mobile application involves the Toulouse start-up WaryMe, which designed VigiNice for the city of Nice. Mobile phone operators are also indirectly involved, since every unit or smartphone used has to have an active SIM card in order to communicate. Mention can also be made of the private security or remote monitoring companies that advise some tobacconists: the public initiative complements the alarm or video surveillance systems already installed individually in many outlets.

It should be noted that funding for the system is shared. The council covers integration with the CSU and training, while each retailer funds their own equipment. In Nice, the smartphone alert button costs little (the application itself and, where relevant, a small Bluetooth-connected unit providing a discreet physical button, costing around a hundred euros) and involves no additional connection charges, since it uses the tobacconist’s existing mobile subscription. Other authorities have chosen to help tobacconists financially: the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, for example, recently distributed 200 connected alert buttons free of charge to tobacconists in its area. These complementary approaches, local and regional, reflect a general awareness of the safety of small retailers.

Outlook and complementary measures

The rollout of alert buttons in Nice opens up promising prospects. If the experiment proves conclusive, it could serve as a model for other French towns. The confederation of tobacconists, a partner in the project, will no doubt promote this good practice among other municipalities affected by assaults or tobacco trafficking. It is easy to imagine that in the coming months or years, large cities but also smaller towns will follow Nice in equipping their tobacconists, or even all their at-risk retailers, with similar alert systems.

In Nice itself, the initiative could be extended. For the time being, “some” volunteer tobacconists will be given the smartphone alert buttons, but the ambition is eventually to make the tool available to all tobacco retailers in the city. The general rollout of the VigiNice application will make that expansion easier, with no limit on numbers. The council is also already considering other uses for its alert application: tests are being carried out to equip public establishments (schools, nurseries, concert halls, hospitals) with a similar alert button in the event of an intrusion or attack. Pooling a single tool for different types of threat has one advantage: the more widespread the system, the more practised the CSU control room will be at handling alerts efficiently and coordinating appropriate responses.

It is also worth stressing how these emergency buttons complement other existing security measures. In Nice, retailers can already benefit from free security audits of their premises, carried out by the municipal police, in order to identify weaknesses and address them (installing internal cameras, reinforcing shop windows, rearranging the counter and so on). The city also sends real-time text alerts to inform retailers of any incident under way in their district (thefts, scams, demonstrations) and encourage them to be vigilant. The alert button complements these measures: it does not prevent burglaries (which take place at night, when the tobacconist is absent, and call for other solutions such as metal shutters) but it provides an additional response in the event of an attack during opening hours. Combined with widespread video protection and a greater police presence on the ground, it forms a tighter safety net around these vulnerable businesses.

Finally, the approach is part of a wider move to modernise security tools. The era of simple push buttons wired to an audible alarm is over: the future belongs to connected, intelligent systems. Tomorrow, these alert applications may include new functions, such as precise geolocation of the nearest police officers, live sending of photos or videos by the retailer, or automatic detection of assaults through artificial intelligence analysing camera feeds. Nice, a pioneering city in this field, is already trying out some of these innovations in the “urban hypervision centre” it is developing.

In conclusion, the introduction of alert buttons on the smartphones of tobacconists in Nice appears as a concrete response to a twofold challenge: reassuring and protecting retailers who are often exposed, while strengthening the fight against the illegal activities that threaten them. Built on close collaboration between the local authorities and the trade, the initiative combines technology and human proximity (through the municipal police) in an attempt to curb insecurity considered intolerable. If you are a tobacconist in Nice and would like to join the scheme, do not hesitate to contact the council; your safety and that of your business are at the heart of this innovative action.

Sources: Nicecommerces, TF1 info, Nicepresse