Racism or clumsiness?
The day after the administrative suspension of the commissioner of the agglomeration of Plaisir (Yvelines), decided this Saturday by Gerald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, the question arises in the ranks of the police.
Friday, Commissioner R. was summoned to explain himself to the IGPN, the police, after sending a controversial greeting card.
We see a caricature of a policeman, near his car, addressing a black man.
“Come closer.
My taser recharges on the cigarette lighter ”, launches the agent.
As soon as I learned of this "greeting card", the General Inspectorate of the National Police was seized and already heard this commissioner yesterday.
I suspended it as a precaution.
pic.twitter.com/HKtXjVNkOO
- Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) January 9, 2021
This card was sent to the heads of service and police authorities of Yvelines, in the name of the commissioner and the police station of Plaisir (whose jurisdiction extends to the towns of Clayes-sous-Bois, Villepreux, Saint-Cyr-l'Ecole and Fontenay-le-Fleury).
"Internally, it is the outcry and consternation", reports a union source from Yvelines.
"The teams are shocked to have been associated with this process, which is detrimental to the image of the police station: it suggests that the police are using the electric pulse pistol on the fly," she laments.
A source close to a union of peacekeepers intends to ask, "if the facts are proven", "sanctions and the displacement of this commissioner, whose legitimacy is seriously undermined".
"We cannot charge this commissioner with racism"
What message did this commissioner from Montargis (Loiret), where he headed departmental security, stationed at the Plaisir police station since April 2018, want to convey?
Contacted, the latter did not respond to our requests.
This cartoon was "produced in 2015 to denounce police violence in the United States," says its author, Wingz.
"I do not understand the approach of the commissioner, who did not ask me for my permission," adds the cartoonist, who does not intend to file a complaint for copyright infringement.
On the side of the police hierarchy of Yvelines, it is the "clumsiness" and the "lack of discernment" of Commissioner R. that point.
“A greeting card is a department head who represents his institution.
We stay sober, she continues.
But we cannot tax this commissioner with racism, it is the opposite of his system of thought ”.
"He is a man who has faults but who is not racist", abounds an internal source of the Plaisir police station.
A commissioner on the way out
Until then, this professional described as rather "erased" and "a little contested" by the base, did not seem to have been talked about.
"He spent his time in meetings with the mayors", relates an official in place, on condition of anonymity.
“He was soon to leave his post for more administrative functions in the management in Paris, where he was to do audits.
But this suspension risks obstructing his future, ”says another police officer.
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The precautionary suspension may last up to four months, unless criminal proceedings were opened, in parallel with the administrative proceedings.
At the end of this suspension, the commissioner will appear before the disciplinary council of the national police, which will determine a possible sanction.
