Police unions skeptical of the "Beauvau of security"

Police officers patrolling Rennes in April 2020 -

• In an interview with online media Brut on Friday, the President of the Republic addressed the issue of facial checks and announced the launch in January of a national platform for reporting discrimination.

• Believing that Emmanuel Macron is letting go of the police, the main unions of peacekeepers called on Saturday to end identity checks.

• To demine an explosive situation, the Head of State will convene in January a sort of "Police Grenelle", which will bring together representatives of the police, elected officials and citizens.

  Emmanuel Macron will intervene "personally", he specifies in a letter addressed to the general secretary of the SGP Police-FO unit union, Yves Lefebvre.

After the “Grenelle de l'Environnement”, the “Ségur de la Santé”, here is the “Beauvau de la Sécurité”.

Four days after triggering an uproar in the ranks of the police by evoking, during an interview with Brut, the issues of facial checks and police violence, Emmanuel Macron announced that he will meet in January, around 'a single table, "law enforcement, elected officials and citizens".

Objective: "Improve the working conditions" of police officers and gendarmes, wrote the Head of State on Monday in a letter addressed to the secretary general of the SGP Police-FO unit union, Yves Lefebvre.

"I will intervene personally", he underlines in this letter consulted by

This "Beauvau of security" will be "the first stone of the great planning law for internal security that the police have long deserved," said the Minister of the Interior on Twitter.

The event will revolve around the seven projects listed by Gérald Darmanin at the end of November at the National Assembly: training, supervision, resources, video capture of interventions, inspection, staff and link between the police and the population, including the fight against discrimination and report to the media.

"It is an ambitious step by the President of the Republic to consolidate the relationship of trust between the police and the citizens", assures a framework of the LREM majority.

Upstream, Gérald Darmanin will for his part receive the police unions on December 18, so that they present him with "proposals for improving the functioning of the police".

"We need profound changes"

Faced with the anger of the police but also the growing mistrust of the French after several cases of police violence, Emmanuel Macron is trying to take control of the security issue, which he had somewhat neglected since his accession to the Elysee Palace.

But will summoning a “Security Beauvau” be enough to demine a situation that is becoming more and more explosive?

Should we wait for a major overhaul of the police institution?

"This announcement is positive, but Gerald Darmanin only has 500 days left at the Ministry of the Interior," said Linda Kebbab, general delegate of the SGP Police-FO Unit union.

“We need profound changes in the national police force, that we respond to the criticisms formulated by our organization in the past.

So we must not hang around.

"

To prevent this "Beauvau of security" from being "sloppy", as was according to her the White Paper on security, published very recently, Linda Kebbab believes that the President of the Republic must, this time, "take take into account the grievances of staff ”.

Putting an end to "the policy of numbers" is, she says, "essential" because "it is one of the evils of the national police".

Agents, she continues, must find the "meaning" of their profession.

They have other things to do than "stop the shiteux" to feed the ministerial statistics when they could "take the time" to "do observation work", "field intelligence".

“They must feel that they are helping to improve the safety of fellow citizens.

It remains to be seen whether Gérald Darmanin, former Budget Minister who likes figures, will hear this proposal.

"Political masquerade"

On the side of the Alliance union, we denounce a "subterfuge", a "political masquerade" whose goal is to "make the police forget" the words evoked by the president during his interview with Brut.

"We do not forget them," denounces Fabien Vanhemelryck, secretary general of the organization, warning that he would not respond to the presidential invitation.

"It is indecent to colleagues who are angry today to try to make them believe that a meeting is going to make things right.

They no longer believe in it, they want something concrete.

The trade unionist recalls that Emmanuel Macron did not follow up on Alliance's demands on "the protection of the police".

“Until he answers us, I don't see why we would participate,” adds Fabien Vanhemelryck.

While waiting for this great security raid, which will certainly cause a great number of disappointments and frustrations, both on the side of the police officers and of the citizens, the movements of police officers relating to identity checks, which began on Saturday, are continuing.

In particular, the SGP Police-FO Unit union has prepared “no-check” coupons that the police give to certain people.

Other agents, Monday evening, quai de Bercy in Paris, on the contrary stopped all vehicles so as not to be accused of carrying out facies checks.

Society

Macron interview on Brut: "The president throws shame on the profession ..." Angry police unions

Society

Police: Emmanuel Macron announces the holding of a "Beauvau of security" from January

• Emmanuel Macron

• security

• Society

• Interior ministry

• Policeman

• Union

• Gerald Darmanin

• Police