2023-04-17 13:30:00
SURVEY – Demonstrations, port of the Identity and Organization Repository (RIO), what do our police forces think? We had the idea of going to meet some of them, in order to ask them. This mini-survey obviously does not have the value of a survey. Its only ambition is to take the temperature with police and gendarmes, and the result is not without reserve small surprises. Those who agreed to answer questions are supporting the protests and reluctantly carrying out some orders. They are far from unanimous on the question of the BRAV-M. A majority of them judge that their hierarchies are not benevolent. As for the obligation to wear an identification number, the famous RIO, they consider that it is a “non-subject”.
On April 5, the Council of State, seized in summary release by several associations, rejected their request to order the Ministry of the Interior to take “strengthened measures” in order to compel members of the security forces to visibly wear their « RIO » during their interventions, as well as the rIt isregulations require it.
The administrative judge recognized that “the obligation to wear an identification number has not been respected on different occasions by national police officers during the execution of their missions, in particular during law enforcement operations”but he also felt that these shortcomings did not reflect “a sufficiently serious failure to enforce the obligation in question, such as to in itself cause a serious and manifestly illegal infringement of a fundamental freedom”.
The applicant associations had notably argued that the non-wearing of this identification number was at the origin of the closing of a certain number of complaints lodged against members of the police, accused of having made unlawful use violence during the demonstrations, for lack of being able to identify the officials involved.
“If the state wants to impose something, I guarantee you that it does it and that it is respected! »
What do the police and gendarmes we interviewed think? Well overall, for them it’s a “non-subject”. Because most of them agree to wear the famous registration number and because, in any case, it is useless in the event of illegitimate violence.
The CRS and mobile gendarmes refused to comment on the obligation by taking refuge behind the duty of reserve, but nevertheless pointed out to us that they all wore it because ” it is mandatory “. And the fact is that, concerning our interlocutors, we could note that it was the case.
Same response from police officers belonging to the traffic or emergency police services: “In my department, we all wear it.”
Civil servants recognize, however, that this is not the case for all their colleagues. They claim that there is then “a kind of benevolence from the hierarchy”. This last point seems to be confirmed by the Paris police headquarters that we contacted: if it affirms that its staff “are instructed to wear their RIO number”it also tells us that no agent “has not been sanctioned since 2016”.
Moreover, a trade unionist told us, “If the State wants to impose something, I guarantee you that it does it and that it is respected! “.
But above all, the police say that during the demonstrations, wearing the RIO has no practical use. First, because the administration can identify them even without that: if it fails to do so, it would be because it didn’t really bother. And then because a demonstrator likely to want to complain will be hard pressed to remember or even see the famous registration number.
“If you get hit with a truncheon, it’s violent, and you think of something other than memorizing a number”, we are told. Not to mention that said number is very difficult to read when the situation is tense. Officials say the numbers are often hidden by equipment, fade quickly over time, and with smoke bombs thrown during protests, it is impossible to tell them apart.
We were able to observe that, excluding demonstrations, if the registration numbers of the CRS or the gendarmes are clearly visible, the black numbers standing out well against the light background, it may be different for other services. A young civil servant told us that he had only been in the police for 6 months. However, the inscription of his RIO was already completely faded and readable only up close.
The principle of the obligation to wear the RIO is the subject of a severe judgment on the part of many police officers (no policeman agreed to answer us on this subject). It would be a measure “dumb” (yes, this qualifier came up several times, editor’s note), imposed in 2014 by Manuel Valls after the latter had to give up an idea deemed perfectly out of the ordinary: to impose that a receipt be issued by the police after each control.
According to the police, the sole consequence of the RIO would be to encourage the multiplication of outlandish or dishonest complaints, filed by malicious people, and which “Wasting everyone’s time while stressing the police.”
Are civil servants who do not wear the RIO therefore resisting this obligation? “dumb” ? From what we have heard, no. The reality is much more prosaic: this registration number gets stuck on the uniform, and they forget to put it on or they have lost it. These numbers don’t just fade over time. Their supports can fall or be misplaced. Some recognize, however, that colleagues can show negligence that borders on bad will, but they would be very much in the minority.
Regarding the wearing of balaclavas, which has also been the subject of criticism, the reason given to us is of a practical nature: they are balaclavas “no fire”. In demonstrations, they are not intended to hide the face, but to protect it from possible throwing of incendiary projectiles.
It should also be noted that, contrary to what one might think by listening to various police representatives with access to the media, the reconstitution of the BRAV-M is far from being unanimously defended among the cops in the field.
While some of them recognize them as useful, others have serious reservations about the motivations of colleagues to volunteer for this unit. To put it mildly, members of BRAV-M are not always considered top law enforcement. We even heard some descriptions using a rather flowery vocabulary…
Perhaps this is partly due to the fact that ” the haunting “which would be at the heart of many police conversations, is that there is a death. “We often talk about it with colleagues. The situation would get out of control”we are told.
The harshness of certain remarks is probably also aggravated by the fear that the controversies surrounding these BRAV-Ms will affect the entire profession.
Finally, by the yardstick (to be put into perspective, we repeat) of what we have heard, the police support the demonstrations. “Police unions are contesting this reform and we can see police taking part in demonstrations on days when they are not working”we are reminded.
Those who don’t have to supervise them welcome it. “Fortunately, our service is not going to the demonstrations”, we have been told several times.
“The 49.3 has made people crazy, we are no longer in a democracy”
And others, whose specialty is not maintaining order but who are sent there for lack of sufficient personnel, go there reluctantly.
“We don’t want to go there! It has happened that we make c……ies and we have to repress brothers”, says an intervention specialist. “Well yes, I say ‘brothers’ because they are like us, from the same social background. It’s not just the troublemakers we’re ordered to arrest, it’s rarely even them. I believe that we are heading towards a kind of civil war, the rich against the poor”.
Many police officers interviewed hastened to confirm that after using 49.3, the instructions changed. It has become ” zero tolerance “ or a wording that sounds like a denunciation “basically, we were told that we had to get in on the job”.
“49.3 drove people crazy, we are no longer in a democracy », accuses a group leader. “While I was struck by the great kindness of people”he continues. “Even the non-protesters, who usually get angry saying that they are being prevented from working, that all that is sh…, were patient and calm, supportive”. And to explain to us that his motivation is that the demonstrations can be held, in good conditions.
The majority of the police show a very strong hostility to a reinforcement of the sanctions in the event of breach of the obligation to wear the RIO. “Let them try, they will see what it gives”, we heard.
But it’s not to be able to be violent while enjoying an anonymity he doesn’t believe in. No. It is because they accuse their superiors of not being benevolent. The real culprits would very rarely be those who are sanctioned. The police explain that, when they receive an order, they have no choice. And the working conditions are also pointed out, as favoring exasperation or panic.
“You have to understand that when you’ve been up for 12 or 14 hours, you’ve been insulted, you’ve been shot, you haven’t been able to eat or pee, you’re more likely to lose our temper. I know that’s no excuse, but after all we are human beings”, argues an intervention specialist.
“When you are injured, you are completely abandoned. We no longer receive our bonuses and we are left to fend for ourselves,” denounces a police officer ensuring respect for the route of the demonstrations.
It should be noted that the only comments that we were able to obtain from the gendarmes concern their schedules during the demonstrations. As they are soldiers, they would be compelled to thank you. Overtime is not paid (although it is, badly, in the police) and one of them told us he worked up to 36 hours in a row!
So many members of a profession that feels mistreated claim not to burden their mule with more. Add pressure to them by creating an effective risk of a sanction for non-compliance with an obligation “dumb”considered inefficient, it is « non ! ».
Especially since we would not ask the right questions when the demonstrations degenerate.
“The good question is why we don’t neutralize the black blocks before they form and aggregate other people. Why do we let them get to the demonstrations? As they are known. The information buddies will confirm it to you. So it’s a political choice.” concludes a policeman from an elite unit.
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