Mayors who also become local judges?
This is a reality in Ariège where the geographical distance between certain municipalities and the court and the congestion of the justice system dragged out petty delinquency or incivility procedures which, on the contrary, require a rapid response.
"This call to order procedure enhances the role of the mayor and elected officials and brings justice closer to citizens," says Frédérique Thiennot, the mayor of Pamiers (Ariège), the largest employment pool in the department.
The city councilor of this municipality of 16,000 inhabitants is the first to have signed a call to order agreement with the Foix prosecutor's office allowing it to intervene more quickly at the judicial level on the recurring problem of incivility.
Since January, the mayor and three of his deputies have been trained by a legal assistant from the court of Foix in order to manage these small offenses in his town, which can spoil the daily life of citizens.
No fine, no prosecution
Usually, these cases concerning incivility are handled by the Foix prosecutor's office. Thanks to this agreement with the voluntary mayors, it is the elected representatives of the municipal council trained in this new device, who take care of it. In the event of an offense, the municipal police, the gendarmes or the police officers seize the parquet floor of Foix which initiates an investigation, delegated to the mayors in their capacity of OPJ (judicial police officer). They can then summon the troublemaker responsible for the offense to the town hall.
"But at the end of the road or during the whole procedure, there is the assistant lawyer, who trained the elected officials, and there is no call to order without an investigation," specifies Laurent Dumaine, the public prosecutor. de Foix, stressing that his prosecution, which has three magistrates, has a criminal response rate of 96.5%.
It is a single point of entry for all acts of petty crime throughout the territory ”.
The interest is to shorten the processing time with this alternative to prosecution and not to have people travel to the court in Foix for a reminder of the law.
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When the troublemaker admits the offense, there is no fine or prosecution.
But if the call to order procedure, which does not apply to repeat offenders, does not work, justice then follows its course, with prosecution to the key.
The device has been in existence since 2007 but was working poorly since the mayors had no feedback on the continuation of the prosecutions.
The Chancellery asked the prosecution to offer them around fifty assistant legal positions.
That of Foix thus recorded the recruitment for three years of this lawyer by training and specialist in international law, to occupy this position of full-time legal assistant.
"More human" and "faster"
In Pamiers, a town nestled at the foot of the Pyrenees, the call to order procedure has so far only been used once, in the case of a dangerous dog walked without a muzzle. His master was summoned to the town hall where he was reminded of the article of law concerning this offense and the penalty incurred. In this small town dotted with islets of greenery, where delinquency is minimal, the system mainly concerns everyday incivilities disturbing public tranquility, such as wild dumps of garbage, the wandering of dogs, nightly noise and conflicts of neighborhood.
“Everything went well for the first case, the problem was quickly resolved,” emphasizes Frédérique Thiennot.
This procedure incorporates a notion of proximity allowing the person not to go to Foix to court.
It's more human, with more understanding and above all it's faster.
This reinforces the role of local police because there is a real commitment from elected officials.
Two other convocations must take place within two weeks for illegal garbage deposits ”.
The procedure takes about fifteen days with this call to order tool compared to about a month when the procedure must go through the court box.
The Chancellery has listed nearly 350 offenses, ranging from tags to overturned trash, through night noise or damage, which may fall within the framework of the local justice policy.
Almost 80% of the affected population
The offenses targeted by the call to order are different in this rural department, depending on the territory, Ariège having 327 municipalities.
"The idea is also to have equality of justice, whatever the size of the town and its territory," explains Laurent Dumaine.
The mayor is an elected official who we know, loved by the inhabitants so he is interesting in terms of proximity for the citizens.
This returns his authority to the mayor at a time when they have suffered assaults.
"
Thus a small rural town like Saint-Jean-du-Falga, with 3,000 souls, signed the agreement with the prosecution and trained three elected members of the municipal council. Here, incivility does not concern tags or wild garbage deposits but rather degradation in collective natural spaces, incivility near sports and school facilities, as well as neighborhood problems, barking dogs and fences. that protrude onto the neighbor's land.
Christophe Avenard, councilor delegated to the town hall of Saint-Jean-du-Falga, was trained in the call to order device with two other elected officials. "The legal assistant teaches us respect for the procedural framework, our prerogatives and its limits and the path to follow to discuss calmly so that the dispute is settled," explains this former gendarme. I think it is a good tool because we are close to the people, to the inhabitants who know us all, which facilitates dialogue. This gives credibility to the role of elected officials, consolidates the power of the mayor in his capacity as OPJ and makes justice affordable at the level of the citizen. Those concerned are surprised to see the paper with the letterhead of the Foix prosecutor, which convinces them to resolve the issue quickly. "
About ten town halls in the department such as Lavelanet, Mazères, Saint-Jean-de-Verges have signed this agreement. Mirepoix, Foix, Saverdun are in the process of doing so. According to the Foix prosecutor's office, nearly 80% of the population of the department now has access to this device, the results of which will be regularly evaluated.
