- If Christophe Castaner claims not to be at the origin of the approach, the police management is thinking of better supervising the capture and dissemination of images of police officers in intervention.
- An initiative desired in particular by the police unions, fearing that filmed agents would be identified and be the object of reprisals.
- But some NGOs, like the Acat (Action of Christians for the Abolition of Torture), consider that this reflection "is not a good sign".
Shall we tomorrow “blur” the faces of the police on social networks and in the media? Christophe Castaner certainly assured this Wednesday morning that he had asked for "no legal study" on the framing of the agents' videos. But, as Mediapart revealed this Sunday, the national police are currently examining the possibility of changing the legal framework around this issue.
The general direction of the police confirms with 20 Minutes that it is here "in its role of analysis of feedback from the field". The question of the registration of agents in the field and a restriction of the dissemination of images is thus among some forty developments envisaged by the services of the new police boss, Frédéric Veaux.
Unions mobilized
The police, it is a fact, do not like to be filmed. And the unions that represent them do not hesitate to regularly call on the Ministry of the Interior to ask it to change the law. For the moment, there is no restriction to film or photograph the field agents. A "memo" distributed by the General Inspectorate of the National Police in April 2017, consulted by 20 Minutes , reminds officials that they cannot "prohibit" anyone from filming them on the public highway, even if "this moment is often badly lived ”.
Likewise, the police cannot "request the destruction, or prohibit the dissemination of the images, nor arrest" the person who films them "on this sole ground". The agents, concludes the IGPN, must learn "to work under the eye of the objective" and be careful "not to end up in a disadvantageous posture".
Blurred faces
In a circular of December 23, 2008, the Minister of the Interior also stressed that "the police do not benefit from police protection in matters of image rights". The only exception: "when they are assigned to the intervention, counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence services". These include agents of the counter-terrorism sub-department of the judicial police, the DGSI, the BRI, the Raid or the GIGN, lists a decree of April 7, 2011. Clearly, it is strictly prohibited to take them photo or disclose their identity under penalty of being fined 15,000 euros.
But unions are concerned that the police are more and more often exposed on social networks, in a context where some of them are victims of attacks because of their profession. Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and Jessica Schneider in 2016 in Magnanville (Yvelines), Xavier Jugelé in 2017 in Paris: "cops are now targeted by acts of terrorism", observes Frédéric Lagache, general delegate of the Alliance union. According to him, the Ministry of the Interior must therefore implement measures to ensure their security. Aware that it is complicated to prohibit people from filming the agents, he would at least wish their faces to be "blurred" in the images, in order to avoid them being recognized and victims of reprisals.
The Alliance union had expressed its demands in a letter addressed to Christophe Castaner, at the end of 2018. “We hope to succeed. For the benefit of everyone, the police officer and his family, ”continues Frédéric Lagache. He assures that if the Minister of the Interior does not quickly formulate proposals, "it is we who will come back to him".
"All this is not going in the right direction"
But the idea of more strictly framing the right to film police officers in intervention worries certain associations and NGOs. "This is not a good sign," says Marion Guémas, head of the police / justice program at Acat (Action of Christians for the abolition of torture).
According to her, many videos of police officers filmed in particular during the demonstrations that punctuated the year 2019 made it possible to "reveal abuses" and to make people aware "that there were problems of violence which are still not resolved rules ". "So we are necessarily concerned about anything that could limit the possibility of registering the police," she adds. Especially since this could have the effect of reducing the chances of "obtaining convictions in the event of police violence" proven. "It is not all going in the right direction. "
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- Society
- Christophe Castaner
- Demonstration
- Police
- Police violence
- Ministry of the Interior