- Since the beginning of confinement, the police have observed a decrease in delinquency.
- But some fear that this trend is only temporary and that criminals will reorganize in order to continue their criminal activities.
- Faced with the risk of burglary of shops, mostly closed during confinement, police and gendarmes redouble their attention.
Bad time for thugs. While the population is confined, the police are already observing the consequences of this measure on delinquency. Robbery, burglary, drug trafficking, etc. The number of offenses, the number of which seems to have dropped sharply over the past eight days. “At the same time, there are a lot of controls. And as soon as someone puts their noses out, they are suspect, ”notes a Parisian police unionist. But the investigators remain cautious as they know that the perpetrators are able to adapt in order to continue their criminal activities.
In the streets and on the side of the roads, 100,000 police and gendarmes are mobilized to enforce the containment decided by the government. Certain controls have also allowed them to do good business. Last Thursday, in Gagny (Seine-Saint-Denis), a man who had already been fined for a lack of a traffic certificate tried to evade control of the anti-crime brigade (Bac). In his bag, the agents discovered 360 grams of cannabis herb, around 20 grams of resin, and around 500 euros in cash.
"Less business at the moment"
"We are actually processing a little less business at the moment," says a Parisian police officer. There have been a few cases of attempted homicide, disputes between alcoholics, in particular homeless people, who are stabbed to death. But nothing comparable to the cases, often delicate, which the judicial police of the Prefecture of Police usually deal with.
If it continues to deal with the most urgent cases, the Parisian PJ has postponed several long-planned operations. In the meantime, its staff will lend a hand to their colleagues on the public highway "in order to prevent the risk of an increase in burglaries generated by the closure of many businesses and the departure of a large number of Ile-de-France residents to the province", said its director, Christian Sainte, in a note consulted by 20 Minutes . "We have to keep them busy," quips a union source.
"We don't know if it will last ..."
“There is a drop in delinquency, that's clear. We do not have figures for the moment but we note it in particular with regard to the few number of police custody carried out. We do not know if it will last, we are careful enough because the situation is quite new. The delinquents will surely reorganize and seek means in order to continue their activities ”, moderates a source within the central direction of the judicial police. Investigators are particularly worried about an “explosion” of Internet scams and scams related to the coronavirus.
On the web have hatched many sites claiming to sell FFP2 masks or hydroalcoholic gel, recently explained to 20 Minutes the divisional commissioner François-Xavier Masson, head of the Central Office for the fight against crime related to information technologies and of communication (OCLCTIC). It must be said that these products are now almost impossible to find in shops that are still open. The police have also multiplied in recent days the arrests of people determined to sell them under the cloak.
"Reassure economic operators"
In Essonne, the gendarmerie has reorganized and, in particular, set up a charged night brigade in order to enforce confinement between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. But also to prevent thefts from which food businesses could be victims, as well as attacks on banks. "Delinquency is plummeting here, be it property damage, burglary or car theft," said Lieutenant-Colonel Nicolas Parra, commander of the gendarmerie company in Palaiseau.
However, last week, several hooded individuals tried, in broad daylight, to steal pallets of food in a supermarket in Saulx-les-Chartreux. Others tried, not far from Evry, to detonate an ATM before being arrested by the gendarmes.
To prevent this type of business from happening again, the military therefore intends to be massively present, day and night, around banking establishments or shops when they are supplied. The objective, explains the officer, is to "reassure the economic operators" and to allow a "continuation of the economic activity" of the country.
Society
Coronavirus: Police and gendarmes still have trouble enforcing containment
Society
Coronavirus: Watch out for online scams!
- News
- Burglary
- Gendarmerie
- Police
- Containment
- Coronavirus
- Covid 19
- Society