"I feel great pride, but I approach these new responsibilities with a lot of humility," says Pascale Regnault-Dubois. At 59, this commissioner, native of Avesnois, was appointed on July 30 central director of the republican security companies (DCCRS) and will be officially installed by the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin in September. This is the first woman appointed to head this body of police officers specializing in the maintenance of order created in 1944. A position which is all the more sensitive as the social back-to-school promises to be turbulent: economic crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, pension reform, convergence between yellow vests and angry white coats, demonstrations against racism and police violence ...
"The image that a CRS sends back is that of maintaining order, of force, but its missions are diverse and varied such as rescue, security, etc.", recalls Pascale Regnault-Dubois who knows the house well. being number 2 for three years. Entering the police force in 1986, she says she does not fear being judged by this male environment where only 3.5% of active personnel are women. That is about 380 CRS out of 11,000. “I have often been asked the question: isn't it difficult to be in such and such a position being a woman? I was asked when I was the first woman in a judicial group to deal with such a thing, the first chief of the district of Saint-Denis… I define myself above all as a commissioner, a policewoman, not as a woman who takes a position of ”.
"You can get into the police by chance, but you don't stay there by chance"
Mother and grandmother of two little daughters, Pascale Regnault-Dubois, who describes herself as "fighter and determined", originally intended for the judiciary after having studied private law in Lille. She finally turned to the police inspectorate competition (ex-officer) out of "appetite for the judiciary" and became an urban security investigator in Val-d'Oise. "The world of the police was completely unknown to me," slips the senior official, daughter of a father employed at the SNCF and of an unemployed mother. It was almost by chance but I had a desire to serve, which is the motto of the CRS. You can get into the police by chance, but you don't stay there by chance. "
In 1993, Pascale Regnault-Dubois passed the competitive examination for internal commissioner and then climbed all the levels in public security in the Paris region. She notably spent nine years in Seine-Saint-Denis, where she directly managed the urban riots of 2005. "A particularly difficult period with a high level of violence," she recalls. She became departmental director of public security in Val-d'Oise in 2012 then joined the DCCRS as deputy director in 2017. There it is today n ° 1.
“This appointment rewards a very good career and skills recognized by all, insists in the entourage of Gérald Darmanin. It also represents a strong symbol. The police are like the French. Its supervision must be too. "
Long awaited by the CRS in the field
Pascale Regnault-Dubois takes the head of a house hard hit by the demonstrations of yellow vests. A crisis which highlighted the brutality of certain radicalized individuals and other protest movements but which also worsened the divide between the police and the population, in particular because of the images of injured demonstrators. In this context, the commissioner will have to apply the new plan for maintaining order presented at the start of the school year by the Minister of the Interior. A doctrine that it is "urgent" to change, had pleaded the former Defender of Rights Jacques Toubon before his departure. "I know that this is a demanding position and that the expectations of the authorities and of the men and women who make up this department are high", pleads the new head of the CRS.
“We are not in the unknown with this appointment. We know Ms. Dubois who is a person experienced in social dialogue, “greeted Thierry Clair from the Unsa Police union, the majority among CRS. Which hopes a listening ear vis-à-vis their demands on working time and the increase in the number of staff.
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The CRS on the ground expect a lot from their new boss, described as more distant than his predecessor, Philippe Klayman, deemed beloved by his troops. "We need more support and closeness with our superiors," warns a peacekeeper from the CRS 1. "She has the necessary grip to lead but not yet the way to do things," said a senior CRS 7 officer. I have the impression that she is doing things in the political sense by running her troops like a business with the objective of profitability more than for the well-being of colleagues. "