During his interview with the Brut media on Friday, Emmanuel Macron denounced the facies checks and announced, in an attempt to stem this practice, the launch of a national platform for reporting discrimination in January.
This did not fail to provoke the ire of two police unions, who called for an end to identity checks.
We take stock.
What did Emmanuel Macron propose?
After the beating of producer Michel Zecler by four police officers, and in the face of the many criticisms that have emerged in recent weeks against the comprehensive security bill, the president was eagerly awaited on the issue of police violence.
“Today, when we have a skin color that is not white, we are much more controlled […] We are identified as a problem factor and it is unbearable”, regretted the Head of State .
To try to resolve this problem, Emmanuel Macron mentioned the launch in January of a national platform for reporting discrimination.
"On controls, we are going to set up a reporting platform, a call number", detailed the president.
On this website, the Head of State specified that it will also be possible to be "listened to" and "to have a follow-up if one wants to file a complaint".
The Head of State also announced the launch of a "training procedure for police and gendarmes to be able to take these depositions and respond to these problems".
This new tool will be managed by the State, the defender of rights and associations.
Emmanuel Macron finally assured that he wanted to set up a second device to fight against discrimination with "a large survey on an Internet platform where people can say where they are discriminated against and in what".
This survey will concern facial checks, but also other subjects of daily life, such as employment or housing.
VIDEO. Police checks: Emmanuel Macron announces the creation of a "reporting platform"
What do the police unions think?
These announcements immediately angered several law enforcement officials.
" This is unacceptable.
[…] One cannot let believe, when one is head of state, that there would be something institutionalized around a targeted control of people ”, reacted on BFMTV Denis Jacob, general secretary of the union Alternative Police - CFDT.
The representative called for the establishment of "a system of ethnic statistics as in England" in order to be able "to proportionally compare these so-called facies checks with the environment where it was done, the population that resides there or passes through it. ".
Alliance Police, for its part, was indignant through a video of "dubious allusions to the actions of the police" of the Head of State.
The union in turn assured that "the police are not racist" and that they "do not choose their delinquency".
The organization deplored the "creation of a platform that already exists" and called on all police officers to stop carrying out identity checks in protest, while demonstrations against the comprehensive security law are planned everywhere in France this Saturday.
No !
The #police is not racist, it does not choose its delinquency.
pic.twitter.com/n7LPIcCI1X
- ALLIANCE PN (@alliancepolice) December 4, 2020
What do we know about the reality of facies checks in France?
Few studies allow us to assess the extent of facial identity checks in France, as ethnic statistics are prohibited.
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There are, however, a few on the subject.
In 2017, a survey published by the Defender of Rights Jacques Toubon showed that 80% of the 5,000 people questioned corresponding to the profile of "young man perceived as black or Arab" had been the subject of identity checks during the previous five years. , against 16% for the rest of the participants.
"These profiles thus have a 20 times higher probability than the others of being checked," Jacques Toubon then estimated.
In 2009, CNRS researchers were also interested in 500 police checks carried out in five places in Paris (Châtelet, Gare du Nord, etc.).
The study showed that a person perceived as “black” was between 3 and 11 times more likely to be checked and a person perceived as “Arab”, 7 times more.
The investigation concluded that the behavior of the police in these five locations could be characterized as “racial profiling”.
Are there any devices already?
This is not the government's first initiative to try to better deal with the problems of discrimination.
In April 2019, Marlène Schiappa and Julien from Normandy launched an “anti-discrimination brigade” aimed at connecting victims and actors in the fight against discrimination through Facebook.
[#MardiConseil] Victim of #discrimination, it is now possible to contact #BADI via the dedicated #Facebook page.
Professionals collect the testimonies and direct towards the competent services.
@DILCRAH @SOShomophobia @SOS_Racisme
👉https: //t.co/4130mO7QOG pic.twitter.com/lMXqULe8zq
- DemarchesAdministratives.fr (@DemarchesAdm) April 16, 2019
But this tool, seen by some as a “coup de com '”, has produced little results.
"There are quite a few seizures", herself recognized the Minister Delegate in an article in Le Monde published on December 4, "but I think that it still had the merit of existing".
It remains to be seen whether the new initiative announced by Emmanuel Macron will be more successful.
The president should detail the modalities more precisely in the coming weeks.