The call failed to drop operator 17 from his chair. At the other end of the line, a lady requests the intervention of the gendarmes to verbalize her husband, who violates the confinement put in place to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic: each evening, the unfaithful “goes to sleep at home his teacher ". "What can we do with such information?" Sighs a gendarme. Position men between the mistress' home and that of the scoffed woman in the hope of intercepting the fickle husband? In the midst of a health crisis, we have truly more urgent missions! "
Another example, in an area managed by the police this time. An anonymous man calls to denounce the manager of a supermarket, which is reportedly in the middle of a "giant barbecue with fifty employees". "No need to move to know that it is purely fanciful, even malicious, annoys a police officer. To know if a call is serious, we cross the calls. If you only have one isolated call, this is not a good sign. If we get three or four for the same event, then we send out a patrol. "
He denounces his neighbors who play pétanque
A little "like in time of war", in the words of a gendarme, calls to 17 to denounce a husband, an employer, a walker, but especially a neighbor who does not respect the rules have multiplied since the beginning of confinement . Just like the solicitations of people worried about being fined for lack of a properly completed certificate, or others who hope to obtain privileges.
For example, a very insistent man once called the emergency number of the police and the gendarmerie to ask if he could "go and play pétanque with his neighbors". "As we say no," said the gendarme, "he denounced his neighbors who allowed them to play pétanque with other neighbors. "
These anecdotes could make you smile if they did not have such unfortunate consequences. Because since the start of confinement, phone calls to 17 have doubled, even three, in some departments of the gendarmerie area (95% of the territory) compared to last year. “In some very touristy departments, the influx of calls is equivalent to big summer days! », Said a gendarme. In the police zone, certain departments, such as Var, Gironde (+ 40%) or Hautes-Pyrénées (+ 54%) are saturated.
"Incivism"
"It's clearly incivism: it engorges the 17th, which is reserved for emergencies," regrets a gendarme. Calling to report a neighbor - or for a problem of attestation - it blocks the lines for people who are really victims of crime, and who need immediate intervention by the police. I am thinking of women victims of domestic violence… ”
A shared observation, but nuanced by Michel Lavaud, the head of the information and communication service of the national police (Sicop). "I would not use the term denunciation. Confinement obeys rules, it is not abnormal that we are called to tell us that some do not respect confinement. It is to guarantee the capacity of health establishments to function. "
"Our operators are professional enough to know how to sort out legitimate calls and slander," he insists. For him, "it is the duty of the national police to adapt to confinement, an extraordinary measure which has changed our habits, in a relatively sudden manner".
Digital Brigade and Police Cat
To cope with the influx of calls, the police very quickly increased the staff in the operational centers. But above all, they have bet on a digital response to manage all these so-called non-emergency calls.
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Thus, the digital brigade saw its staff increase from 20 to 70 gendarmes, to answer questions from Internet users seven days a week and 24 hours a day. "It is to her that people should go first if they have a question about confinement or the attestation," insists a gendarme.
On the police side, a cat has been set up to meet these needs. Finally, individuals can also contact the Covid-19 toll-free number set up by the government: 0800 130 000. As a sign that behavior may be starting to change, in the gendarmerie zone, since Monday, several large operational centers have noticed a marked reduction in the number of calls.
