{{Short description|French civil servant (1921–2015)}} {{Infobox person | name = Jean Paolini | birth_name = Jean Dominique Paolini | birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|03|03}} | birth_place = Ghisonaccia | death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|01|08|1921|03|03}} | death_place = Ghisonaccia | occupation = Official, prefect | years_active = 1944 – 1988 | alma_mater = Faculty of Law of Toulouse | awards = {{ubl|Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour|Ordre national du Mérite|''Croix de Guerre 1939–1945''}} | signature = Signature de Jean Paolini - Archives nationales (France).png }}
'''Jean Paolini''' (3 March 1921 – 8 January 2015)<ref name="SFHP">{{cite web |url=http://www.sfhp.fr/index.php?post/2009/07/01/Notice-biographique-Jean-PAOLINI |title=Notice biographique Jean Paolini |date=1 July 2009 |website=Société française d'histoire de la police |language=fr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211103144317/http://www.sfhp.fr/index.php?post/2009/07/01/Notice-biographique-Jean-PAOLINI#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url |archive-date=3 November 2021 |url-status=bot: unknown |access-date=25 November 2023 }}</ref> was a French civil servant. He was prefect of the Meuse and prefect of police of Paris.
==Biography== Jean Dominique Paolini was born on 3 March 1921 in Ghisonaccia, Haute-Corse, Corsica, to a father who was a technical assistant in the public works department of the State. He studied at the Lycée de Bastia, then at the Faculty of Law of Toulouse Capitole University, where he obtained a law degree.<ref name="SFHP"/>
He enlisted as a volunteer in January 1943 and became chief of staff to the secretary general for the police of the Toulouse region in August 1944. He was then appointed chief of staff to Poggioli, prefect of the Hautes-Pyrénées, then of Loir-et-Cher (1945-1947). Sub-prefect of the 3rd class, he was chief of staff to the prefect of the Rhône, then secretary general of Savoie in 1951, Charente in 1958, and Meurthe-et-Moselle in 1959. He was appointed prefect of the Meuse in 1965.<ref name="SFHP"/>
In 1967, he became chief of staff to the prefect of police Maurice Grimaud, before himself becoming prefect of the Paris police in 1973. He was chief of staff to the Minister of the Interior Michel Poniatowski (1976) and then to Christian Bonnet (1977).<ref name="SFHP"/>
During the First Cohabitation, the prefect of police of Paris, Guy Fougier, resigned because of tensions with the Minister of the Interior, Charles Pasqua. Prime Minister Jacques Chirac proposed the appointment of Jean Paolini, who had already been prefect of police in 1973. The Élysée refused,<ref>{{cite book |language=fr |last=Favier |first=Pierre |title=La décennie Mitterrand. 2, Les épreuves : 1984-1988 |trans-title=The Mitterrand decade. 2, The trials : 1984-1988 |location=Paris |publisher=Editions Points |year=2016 |orig-year=1991 |isbn=978-2-7578-5799-1 |oclc=941084320 }}</ref> but the Prime Minister reacted with the utmost firmness by threatening to make Paolini a ''chargé de mission'' in the cabinet of minister Robert Pandraud, who had all the powers that would allow him to head the police prefecture.<ref>{{cite book |language=fr |last=Giesbert |first=Franz-Olivier |author-link=Franz-Olivier Giesbert |title=Jacques Chirac |location=Paris |publisher=Seuil |year=1987 |isbn=9782020097710 |oclc=17497587 }}</ref> Mitterrand relented and appointed Paolini prefect of police in Paris in 1986.<ref name="SFHP"/>
He retired in 1988.<ref name="SFHP"/>
He received the distinctions of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour and Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.corsematin.com/deces/111891.1657811.html |title=Avis de décès |trans-title=Obituary |newspaper=Corse-Matin |language=fr |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430081342/https://www.corsematin.com/deces/111891.1657811.html#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url |archive-date=30 April 2019 |access-date=25 November 2023 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paolini, Jean}} Category:1921 births Category:2015 deaths Category:French police chiefs Category:Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite Category:Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour Category:People from Haute-Corse Category:University of Toulouse alumni Category:French recipients of the Legion of Honour