Police officers crossed arms, silent, forming a hedge "of dishonor" as the director general of the police Frédéric Veaux passes through the corridors of the Bishopric, the mythical seat of the PJ of Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône).
Unpublished images of unease and mistrust, which have spread like wildfire on social networks for a few hours.
This Friday, the response from the hierarchy fell: Éric Arella, zonal director of the PJ stationed in Marseille since 2015, was dismissed from his post by the DGPN.
He will be assigned to the IGPN on Monday and replaced by Dominique Abbenanti, until today in post as internal security attaché in Algiers.
So much for the first warning shot.
The second comes from even higher: Jérôme Bonet, the central director of the judicial police has put his resignation in the balance, a sign that the crisis is now open and total in the French PJ.
An unprecedented situation.
Protest movements across France
Since the summer, discontent has risen crescendo against the ongoing reform.
After months of meetings and testing in several departments, the new police organization was terminal, ready to go mainstream when resistance organized.
For several days, and to circumscribe the fire, Frédéric Veaux had been sent to the four corners of France to defend the reform as close as possible to the troops.
But the reception of this “Veaux Tour” was beyond mixed: in Bordeaux, around forty bulletproof vests are placed on the ground.
On the back, the inscription "Judicial Police" is crossed out with a black band as a sign of mourning.
In Cergy-Pontoise, it is civil servants who throw their handcuffs on the ground.
In Lille, dozens of police come out to express their anger in front of the PJ headquarters.
The visit to Marseilles completes this tour of trench warfare-style meals.
“The goal is to make the Veaux Tour a farewell tour,” smiles a police officer present who participated in one of these actions.
For nearly 15 days, the usually discreet cops of the PJ have thus embarked on a real communication war to denounce a vast reform - the departmentalization of the police - initiated and wanted by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin.
“Who will soon be able to process our investigations?”
This reform, which aims to put all police personnel under the authority of a single departmental director, has been denounced for months by investigators and managers of the PJ services.
The Pjistes say they fear having to abandon their complex investigations into organized crime, international trafficking or financial crimes to come and help their colleagues responsible for dealing with everyday crime, completely overwhelmed and often poorly trained in investigation.
For a long time, anger remained quiet, confined to the services.
But since this summer, the police officers of the PJ make themselves heard.
They created the National Association of the Judicial Police (ANPJ) in mid-August and received the strong support of certain senior magistrates such as François Molins, the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation or Marc Cimamonti, the public prosecutor of Versailles. , who expressed their “concern” about the consequences of this reform.
"Who will soon be able to deal with our investigations of social and tax fraud, our investigations that we wish to initiate on the large money laundering circuit or on the embezzlement of public funds?
“, even publicly questioned Dominique Laurens, the prosecutor of Marseille.
Read also“A false good idea”: the revolt against the reform of the judicial police extends
With these weighty supports, the police officers of the PJ no longer want to be silent and are planning other large-scale actions.
Next October 17 everywhere in France, they plan to demonstrate in front of the prefectures or the police services.
Magistrates have already announced to the police their desire to be present.
“The observation is quite simple and is shared by all those who fight against serious crime, underlines a member of the ANPJ in Marseille.
The PJ protects France from formidable criminal organizations thanks to its territorial network and a certain hierarchical independence.
Giving up on that is dangerous.
That the Minister wants to reform the police, fine, it is his right and there are things to do.
But this reform as presented is harmful.
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On the side of the entourage of the director general of the national police, the eviction of the boss of the PJ of Marseille is thus justified: “As with any reform, there are discussions, there may be disagreements.
But such disloyalty is not acceptable”.
"The results in Marseille are also poor with record levels of homicides while the workforce has been considerably increased," adds this source.
But the discontent goes far beyond the Marseille city.
At this stage, the Ministry of the Interior has not reacted to the presentation of the resignation of the central director of the judicial police.
A call for the gathering of all the judicial police services is scheduled for this Friday at 5 p.m.
