Announced in 2019, the Administrative Detention Center (CRA) in Olivet (Loiret) opened its doors this Monday, February 5.
Able to accommodate 90 foreign nationals in an irregular situation or awaiting a residence permit, this facility, located near the Orléans university campus, does not only make people happy.
The police union SGP Police Unit 45 recently demanded that the opening date be delayed by at least 15 days.
“Our colleagues concerned wish that, during this period, the center operates empty,” indicate the police in a press release.
“If the safety commission issued a favorable opinion on a technical and normative aspect, the fact remains that this building does not provide sufficient operational safety for the personnel working there.”
A gradual rise in power
The installation of 170 surveillance cameras on site has not allayed the fears of police officers, in particular the youngest, who “come from different backgrounds from the border police and have no knowledge of how a CRA works .
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The union is also concerned about the lack of staff, despite the promise of reinforcements.
The Olivet Administrative Detention Center must accommodate 90 people – the maximum reception rate – by the end of February.
A chimera according to the police officers who, failing to have been heard on the postponement of the opening date, hope, at a minimum, “a gradual increase in power” of the operation of the center, “with a maximum number of detainees in correlation with the staff in place.
This CRA is part of the Ministry of the Interior's plan to increase from 1,900 places to 3,000 detention places in France by 2027.