A police officer at Lyon Perrache station after a bus from Milan was blocked due to suspected coronavirus on board - JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK / AFP

  • Several police stations were briefly confined in the past few days after the passage of sick people.
  • The worried police are waiting for the Interior Ministry to provide them with masks and hydroalcoholic gel.
  • A health, safety and working conditions committee will meet this Wednesday at the Ministry of the Interior. A meeting which, the unions hope, will provide answers to the agents.

This Monday morning, a man arriving from Indonesia was unwell at the central police station in Lille after complaining of stomach pain. The premises were closed for an hour, while a team from the Samu intervened to ensure that it was not contaminated by the coronavirus. A few days earlier, it was the police station in the 16th arrondissement of Paris that was briefly confined after two South Korean tourists who passed through Italy came to the reception, explaining that they were sick. A similar situation had occurred in the capital's 13th arrondissement after a Chinese tourist who had come to file a complaint for theft was found ill.

These recent incidents are causing concern among the police. "We are wondering because there are not really clear recommendations" of the administration, explains Grégory Joron, national secretary of the Union-SGP police FO union. "We are in an artistic vagueness, the instructions are passed down the stream," continues the unionist. Aurélie Laoussie, president of the Angry Women of the Police Association (FFOC), spoke recently with the wife of a border police officer (PAF), in Menton, near the 'Italy, the most contaminated country in Europe. "Three days ago, they had no information, no instructions on what to do," she explains.

Outdated masks

Especially since the masks and bottles of hydroalcoholic gel are long overdue. “The agents need it to preserve their health. They are arriving, we have started distributing them. The most exposed services, such as PAF, present in transport zones and administrative detention centers, must be equipped as a priority, ”underlines Frédéric Galea, national delegate in charge of quality of life at work within the Alliance union. According to the unions, the Interior stores 24 million masks and has ordered an additional 200 million to deal with the situation. "They need to be in sufficient quantity because if they are worn permanently, they must be changed every three hours," adds Frédéric Galea.

While the equipment is being distributed drop by drop, some agents were surprised to find that the masks they had just received had expired… since 2008! "They had been stored at the time of the H1N1 flu," says Aurélie Laroussie.

👮‍♂️📲👩: “For once the #police has taken care to deliver masks to protect us from # COVID19. They are out of date! Not even sure that they are certified # FFP2 »#coronavirus #FemmedeFlic #FFOC pic.twitter.com/IAbRnHLbR9

- Perrine Sallé (@perinette_S) February 27, 2020

In addition, if the government announced this Saturday the ban on gatherings of more than 5,000 people in confined spaces, no comprable measure is planned (for now) for football matches. Wednesday, the CRS who ensured the security of the Lyon-Turin match were equipped with masks. "But they were asked to remove them so as not to frighten the population," reports the president of the FFOC association.

A meeting to provide answers

At the request of several unions, a health, safety and working conditions committee will meet this Wednesday at the Ministry of the Interior. The opportunity to take stock of protective equipment, instructions to be given to civil servants, operational instructions and the delicate question of HR management. "Should confined agents be on sick leave?" Or do they have a special leave of absence? Asks Grégory Joron, regretting that, very often, "the commissioners find themselves alone to manage" the situation.

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  • Society
  • coronavirus
  • Virus
  • Police
  • Police officer
  • Ministry of the Interior