"No angelism in our security management", says Grégory Doucet

• Shootings, settling scores with heavy weapons, drug trafficking and urban rodeos… For several months, episodes of violence have been increasing in Lyon.

• Criticized on the management of security, Grégory Doucet the mayor of Lyon gave an interview to "20 Minutes".

• On the eve of the city council on Thursday, he looks back on the actions already carried out and those to come in terms of security.

Urban rodeos, shootings… Has the city of Lyon experienced an upsurge in violence since the arrival of environmentalists in power?

Attacked on his management of security, accused of dogmatism, the mayor of Lyon knows he is expected on the issue.

On the eve of the municipal council, during which several deliberations devoted to security will be voted on, Grégory Doucet spoke with

.

After the shooting of the Duchere, the opposition strongly criticized the immobility, even the angelism of the municipality in terms of security.

What do you answer?

My job is not to comment on what others may say.

On the other hand, it is to ensure public tranquility in this city.

That is the prerogative and I have made it a priority.

We have been committed to this since the first day of our election.

On the question of the shootings, whether in Duchère or Gerland, we must not forget that there is already an old action in the city.

Our orientation is to advance on two legs: prevention and repression.

This is what we are doing at La Duchère, where there are already a lot of actions taken to prevent crime, whether through popular education, culture or social actors.

Then, on the repressive aspect, we have a very important presence of the municipal police.

In the district of La Duchère, for example, there are more than fifty video surveillance cameras that we have moved, at the request of the national police, to better monitor new situations of delinquency and criminality and to adapt to their evolution.

There is a whole work of fine coordination carried out with the prefecture and the departmental directorate of public security.

This is essential because we need the national police, especially in La Duchère, where there is considerable drug trafficking, but also settling of accounts using heavy weapons and arms trafficking.

But that is the prerogative of the national police.

We come in support.

You mean that the state does not play this major role?

Not at all.

I explain how things work.

To answer your first question, I see no otherworldliness in our security management.

I have an extremely pragmatic approach to public peace and security.

When necessary, I call on the State and its representatives to ask for a greater presence of national police officers, in order to also ask that they be more visible on the ground.

If the mobilization of the national police is necessary to carry out investigations and arrest the perpetrators, its visibility is just as important to prevent certain facts.

What do you expect from the State in terms of reinforcement?

When we were in the midst of a pandemic, when we took office in 2020, I immediately realized that several hundred municipal police officers were missing from the Lyon public security district.

In September, I went to see Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, to ask him to increase the number of staff.

He agreed that the diagnosis was correct.

He has increased the numbers that are arriving.

I confirm that we need a significant presence of the national police to carry out investigations and be on the ground in addition to the municipal police.

We are not on the same prerogatives.

The municipal police is about public tranquility, the national police, about public order.

We need this complementarity.

In addition to the actions carried out by the national police, should we also put more municipal police on the ground, in your opinion?

Yes, I wish there were more municipal police on the ground.

We have already committed to doing so.

Today, we have increased the workforce to 365. Despite tensions in the labor market, as well as many retirements, we are actively recruiting them.

We have already enlisted more than 53. I want a very close municipal police force that is visible and in touch with the inhabitants.

A police that soothes and repairs.

Those who say that the municipal police should be armed are very badly informed because they already have substantial equipment.

We are in the process of supplementing this equipment with pedestrian cameras, as is done in other cities because experiments, carried out elsewhere, have shown that it is very useful.

Some residents nevertheless have the feeling of an increase in insecurity in Lyon, how do you explain it?

At the end of the periods of confinement, new phenomena of delinquency and criminality appeared and took on significant proportions.

It is a phenomenon with more violence that we observe everywhere in France, but also elsewhere.

It is common to all medium and large cities.

This implies new forms of action.

Let's take the concrete example of the urban rodeos which were very numerous in Lyon.

We had an extremely proactive action with the national police and the prosecutor's office.

The rodeo cell put in place made it possible to act quickly and to have systematic action with the perpetrators, thanks in particular to video protection images.

Convictions were pronounced, vehicle seizures were numerous.

There were also communication operations intended to dissuade those who wanted to do so.

Result: we saw in the city a very significant decrease in the number of rodeos even if, that does not mean that they completely disappeared.

We have adapted our modes of action to stem the phenomenon.

With the prefecture and the prosecutor's office, we meet every quarter to review the situation as a whole and adapt our practices, to look at the territories where new phenomena are appearing.

In parallel with this overall coordination that I manage, there is, every month and in each arrondissement, a point made with the municipal and national police and elected officials.

For example, this is what made it possible to set up the reminder to the law system.

It works very well in the 8th arrondissement.

What are you going to present to the city council on Wednesday regarding security?

We are going to vote for an increase in the remuneration of municipal police officers.

Five hundred thousand euros have already been put on the table to improve the attractiveness of the profession.

We are also going to move on to the generalization of the video verbalization system throughout the city because my responsibility is also to put an end to road violence.

Video verbalization will allow it.

Finally, we are going to vote to increase the budget dedicated to Place Gabriel-Péri (Guillotière district), particularly in terms of crime prevention and social actions.

For the year 2022, 150,000 euros will be committed to carry out additional actions in this sector.

Company

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Miscellaneous facts

Shooting in Lyon: Criticized on its management of insecurity, the EELV municipality summoned to act

• Company

• Security

• Insecure

• Violence

• Police

• Gregory Doucet

• Lyons

• Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes