- In 2019, "around thirty judicial investigations were launched against the police on racist statements," the interior minister said on Tuesday.
- During a press conference organized on Monday, Christophe Castaner refuted the idea of "institutional racism" within the police and described the police suspected of discrimination as "bad apples".
- However, he called for an administrative suspension to be systematically initiated in these cases.
The Minister of the Interior wished to be "firm". “Racism has no place in our society, and even less in our republican police. It is not enough to condemn him. We must track it down and fight it with all our might, ”said Christophe Castaner on Monday during a press conference. In recent weeks, several cases revealed in the press have implicated police officers suspected of having made racist remarks.
In a context also marked by the demonstrations organized in France since the death of Georges Floyd in the United States and the rallies at the call of the relatives of Adama Traoré, who died in 2016 after his arrest, the police are crossing today today a major crisis. If the minister and the police unions refute all “institutional racism”, the question of combating discrimination within the profession deserves to be asked. How do the police approach this subject and are the means used to combat racist prejudice sufficient? 20 Minutes takes stock.
Reports and training
For several years, tools have been put in place to educate future peacekeepers and to support officers who are victims of racism and discrimination within their units. Since 2010, the Licra (International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism) has been providing training, for example, to promotions in the police academy or gendarmerie. Patrice Bilgoray is the national manager for the association. “Between 2018 and 2019, we conducted 81 training courses, all grades combined. We present the work of the association, we also discuss welcoming victims of racist acts or insults in police stations and gendarmerie and we have a time for discussion. Today, many questions come back to the racism which certain police officers are said to be victims of inside the institution, ”he explains.
Black policeman, Alex discovered a group of audio messages from his colleagues on WhatsApp. Racist and sexist statements assumed which sometimes go as far as fascism and white supremacism. A terrible and necessary listening. #RacismeDansLaPolice
➡ https://t.co/grgjE3K3UT pic.twitter.com/b5AzqXaXi0
Like the association, the interministerial delegate for the fight against racism, anti-Semitism and anti-LGBT hatred (Dilcrah) also intervenes in schools to make future police officers and gendarmes aware of these questions.
In addition to these training modules, there are other tools. In September 2017, the Ministry of the Interior launched a reporting platform called "Signal Discri" to manage cases of discrimination of harassment (sexual or moral) and gender-based or sexual violence within the national police. According to the annual report published Monday by the IGPN, this cell recorded 8 reports for "discriminatory harassment" and 24 reports for "discrimination" in 2019, i.e. 4% and 11% of the total.
In February 2017, ministers Christophe Castaner and Laurent Nuñez also announced the appointment of a “racism and anti-Semitism referent” in the police and gendarmerie services of each department.
"Bad apples"
For Jérémie Gauthier, sociologist specializing in the police and lecturer at the University of Strasbourg, if France has "been slow" to take up these questions, the situation has changed over the past ten years. "The State was condemned in 2015 by the Paris Court of Appeal for identity checks deemed discriminatory, the mobilisations denouncing police excesses acquired an increased audience and the position of certain major media has changed. The institution was therefore forced to inflect its discourse. "But the work undertaken remains, according to him," ambiguous "and" incomplete ":" The politician denounces the excesses of individuals qualified as "bad apples" and continues to deny the responsibility of the institution. "
A "denial" that is part of the history of the police, according to Catherine Wihtol de Wenden, director of research at the CNRS and co-author of Police and discrimination, the French taboo . “Through our investigations, it has been noted that a racist culture or widespread racism is expressed within the police. A culture inherited from the Algerian war with an approach which consists in considering that "visible" people are dangerous people. "According to her, this finding is also explained by a lack of" historical pedagogy ":" Agents continue to deny or minimize what happened in 1962 at the Charonne metro station in Paris, where 8 demonstrators were killed after police intervention ”.
Other factors may also justify this "delay" and the institution's inertia to take up the fight against racism in the police. “In France, the posture that dominates within the political and police authorities is the posture of denial. The weight of conservatisms, relayed by the majority unions, which refuse any questioning and deny the problems of racism and discrimination, continues to weigh. For a long time, we considered that the problem did not exist or was not serious enough, ”adds Jérémie Gauthier.
Levers to strengthen
However, levers for action exist. During his press conference, Christophe Castaner asked that the suspension be "systematically considered for each proven suspicion" of racism in the police, advocating "zero tolerance". Necessary sanctions, judge Patrice Bilgoray, of Licra: "When behavior falls under the law, I see no reason why the police or gendarmes would be absolved of this. It should be remembered that racism is not an opinion but a crime. However, there is also a need to strengthen continuing education for the law enforcement officers who are stationed. "
Other tools, such as the "administrative registration of identity checks" implemented for example in the United Kingdom, could help strengthen the institution's commitment to the fight against racism and discrimination, say several specialists and the Defender of Rights. For a time considered in France, the famous "receipt" in the event of police control has since been buried.
But for Jérémie Gauthier, the posture hitherto claimed by the minister and union representatives must be overcome: "The concept of" institutional racism ", stemming from the social sciences and used in particular in the context of police reform in Great Britain from the 1990s, it was possible to point out the effects of rules, the culture of the institution and professional socialization in the production of racist behavior and discrimination. It is a relevant tool for understanding how an institutional action can produce discrimination without all of its agents showing racist intentions. "
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- Christophe Castaner
- Society
- Racism
- Discrimination
- Police
- Gendarmerie