In jeans and black coats, a briefcase under their arms, they look like any employee leaving the office for lunch.
With the difference that they do not scrutinize the take-out menu proposals.
Their gaze goes a little further, scrutinizing the storefronts and bay windows of bars and restaurants and trying to look inside the food shops to find those who open illegally.
They regularly meet managers who play, sometimes without knowing it, with the law.
One of them had the bitter experience of it this Wednesday noon.
Two of the eight officers of the administrative police unit of the 15th arrondissement police station walked through several neighborhoods this Wednesday noon, as every day since mid-January, to track down possible violations in bars and restaurants.
"There are more than a thousand establishments open to the public in our district, very few break the rules", assures one of these two police officers.
"We target our controls"
A dozen shops have nevertheless been closed in two months in the 15th arrondissement.
“For several hundred checks in all,” specifies Damien Valot, the commissioner.
Because the administrative unit is not the only one to track down open bars and restaurants, this mission is also carried out by all the patrols in addition to their daily work.
“And this despite the sustained legal activity since the assault on Yuriy in the Beaugrenelle district in Paris (15th century).
Members of the administrative police unit spend their lunch break hunting down bars and restaurants that are open illegally.
/ LP / Florian Loisy
Arrived in the Montparnasse district, boulevard de Vaugirard, they get out of the car and walk the street.
“We already know the traders and the habits, detail the police officers.
So we are targeting our controls, we have already spotted some where there are signs that they can open sometimes, but we did not come at the right time.
"
Denunciations refer the police
Sometimes, the police are also directed in their research by denunciations of competitors or residents.
"People can be moved to note the non-compliance with the laws, we process this information and we carry out checks as soon as we can, insists the Commissioner Damien Valot.
It does not matter the motivation of this denunciation.
It is an act of citizenship.
Why would we welcome it in the context of domestic violence and why would it be shameful in the case of restaurants?
While the offense is less serious, it can lead to the spread of the virus.
"
During the first check, which lasts less than 5 minutes, the two officials note that customers are waiting in the covered terrace of the Asian restaurant.
"We did not give them anything to eat or drink to wait, they have the mask over their mouths and there is a certain distance", approves the agent.
He still pushes the visit to the back room.
The chairs are on the tables, nothing is cleaned.
"We are only in the take-out, no problem," he said before leaving the premises thirty seconds later.
A customer is seated at the table while others drink standing, on the spot, without waiting for a possible take-out order.
“This gentleman was uneasy,” retorts the manager.
/ LP / Florian Loisy
Three other stalls are detailed from the outside, but the police do not linger.
Because setting up a counter outside prevents customers from entering.
"We also know that they don't have the necessary space inside to hide," slips one of the two investigators.
Because most of the underground restaurants and bars which “are full every lunchtime” as we have seen, have a mezzanine or a basement out of sight.
And regulars often pass through the service entrance.
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The foot patrol continues.
Discreetly the duo approach a crowd on the terrace of a brasserie a little further down the street.
Half a dozen customers are having their coffee chatting outside the entrance.
Inside, another is at the counter and an elderly person is sitting down at the table.
"There are bad habits that have been taken here ..."
The manager faces the police.
"They consume on the spot?
Asks the official.
“This seated gentleman had a faint, he is diabetic and outside, they are waiting for their order,” replies the restaurant owner.
But no order has been recorded.
And customers leave when they realize that it is a control, proof that they were not waiting for their meal.
A few moments later, when the manager is summoned to provide several administrative documents, another customer enters directly inside the brewery, while the take-out counter is located on the terrace.
"There are bad habits that have been taken here, asserts the agent.
It is 12:13 p.m., your establishment is closed from now on.
You must stop all commercial activity. And as soon as your customer is better, he will have to leave.
"
The manager signals to another customer who arrives that he has finished his service.
Then turns to the police.
"I'm not selling anything, then?"
There is death for me, he says.
You do your job.
But these people were outside, in the open air.
"The two agents do pedagogy:" You cannot let it go, you are responsible for your customers and you cannot serve them on the spot, they must go.
We are initiating proceedings for the exercise of a prohibited activity.
You will be summoned to the police station this afternoon.
"
In this Asian restaurant, however, nothing caught the eye of the police officers who nevertheless visited the back room. / LP / Florian Loisy
The two agents return to their offices to write their report.
Along the way, another restaurateur is seen having a glass of wine with two customers, standing on his terrace.
A little further, in front of McDonald's, all the young people eat their burgers clumped together.
"The law is the same for everyone, large stores or small neighborhood bar, there nobody wears a mask, there is no distancing and people consume on the spot, we will return there, promise the two officials.
The problem is that most of them don't even hide, because they are unaware of what they are doing, for them everything is normal.
"
However, prevention was pushed to the maximum at the start of the curfew and then the confinement, according to the commissioner.
“We explained the rules to several managers, in the rue du Commerce or in the rue de Cambronne, several of them served until 6:40 pm instead of stopping at 6 pm.
We did not verbalize, we understand their difficulties.
But the law is the same for everyone.
We owe it to those who play by the rules.
And these controls have an interest, they make it possible to avoid many passages to the act.
Some people stop playing with the law for fear of being fined.
"