Pierre-Marie Sève is general delegate of
the Institute for Justice
(IPJ), an association of citizens mobilized alongside the victims.
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FIGAROVOX. - In Calvados, a mayor was hit with a baton while trying to stop an urban rodeo that was taking place in his town. How can the police act in the face of this recurring phenomenon?
Pierre-Marie SÈVE. -
A solution immediately comes to mind, but it must be ruled out directly.
This solution is the aggravation of penal sanctions.
As with drug trafficking, the penalties contained in the Penal Code today are already heavy enough.
A law had thus been voted and then promulgated in accelerated procedure during the summer of 2018 because, already, these rodeos were problematic.
This law increased the penalties against those who carried out urban rodeos and provided for up to 5 years in prison for motorized rodeos under the influence of narcotics.
Unfortunately, this law has had no effect in curbing the phenomenon because these sanctions are only caps.
These are never reached because the magistrates are encouraged, by the various penal laws, never to pronounce prison sentences.
The 2018 law was therefore only a communication effect and any other law increasing the penalties is exposed to the same risk.
Officially, the instruction is to stay at a distance and to conduct ex post facto investigations to avoid difficult situations for the police.
This investigative work takes up police working time and leads to delays reflected in the judicial phase.
Pierre-Marie Sève
Currently, the police intervene very little in flagrante delicto during urban rodeos, because they are instructed not to cause an incident.
Officially, the instruction is therefore to remain at a distance and to conduct a posteriori investigations to avoid gatherings and difficult situations for the police.
This investigative work takes up police working time and leads to delays reflected in the judicial phase.
These difficulties are known to delinquents and taken advantage of.
They drive without a helmet, increase the number of dangerous behaviors at the wheel, all without fear of the police, and above all without fear of justice.
This is the second fundamental aspect of the problem: when the police go back to the perpetrators of urban rodeos and arrest them, they are hardly condemned or even given ridiculous sentences.
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Then, the confiscation of the vehicle was to be made much easier with the law of 2018. But once again, it poses problems: since the police only work on the basis of a posteriori investigations, it becomes difficult to identify the authors, even more to identify their vehicles. And again, when this is the case, it is often the vehicle of a third party, therefore impossible to confiscate, etc.
It seems to me that the solution would be to stop having moods for delinquents.
In this matter, as with all offenses, firmness must be relentless and, as such, the minimum penalties must be restored and applied.
The delinquents must know that the state in front of them has no qualms about punishing them in order to protect the rest of the law-abiding population.
In Lyon, BAC police officers were shot at while monitoring a deal point. Is this an inherent danger in police work today?
One can wonder indeed, a few months after the death of Eric Masson, Avignon policeman.
If we look coldly at the figures, the number of police officers who died on mission fortunately remains quite low: the two peaks in recent years were 4 police officers who died on mission in 2009, and in 2014.
As long as delinquents have the feeling of impunity, insecurity will grow.
Pierre-Marie Sève
Over the year 2020, this number rises to 7. It is still early to see a basic trend, but several elements do indeed suggest an increase in violence in France, and therefore primarily, an increase in violence. against the police, on the front line.
The number of assault and battery, for example, which has increased sharply over the past 3 years, is a clear indication of this.
Generally speaking, the increase in drug trafficking, the increase in delinquency and criminality are symptoms of a general increase in the levels of violence in French society.
In a more violent society, the police must face more violent behavior, it is serious but inevitable.
More than a month after the Beauvau de la sécurité, what solutions have been put forward to facilitate the work of the police?
To my astonishment, the Beauvau de la sécurité would have satisfied the police unions.
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The President of the Republic is said to have undertaken to increase the budget of the Ministry of the Interior, a fashionable measure since the inflationary frenzy. He also announced the imminent removal of the reminder to the law. This deletion, which may seem welcome and which is symbolically quite important, is however completely inoperative if the number of prison places is not substantially increased. It will also be replaced by a similar mechanism and the work of the police will therefore not be improved.
In general, regardless of the solutions put forward to facilitate the work of the police, as long as justice does not play its role, the police are condemned to have the feeling (very real) of not working for nothing.
And as long as delinquents have a feeling of impunity, insecurity will grow.