Christophe Castaner, who received the police unions on Friday, very upbeat since announcements from the Minister of the Interior on Monday, confirmed in the evening the abolition of the so-called "strangulation" technique.
The unions, who said at the end of the day to wait for a letter from the minister, hoped that Christophe Castaner would come back on his announcement on Monday to ban this technique of arresting violent people, before an alternative method could be implemented.
"No longer taught in police schools"
"It was deemed dangerous by the joint working group chaired by the directors general of the national police and gendarmerie, tasked last January by the Minister of the Interior to review all the actions and techniques of intervention of the police, "it was written in a joint statement by Christophe Castaner and his secretary of state Laurent Nuñez.
"In accordance with the recommendations of this working group, this technique (...) will no longer be taught in police schools. It is no longer taught in the gendarmerie or in the ranks of the prison administration," they confirm.
"He assured us that there would be no gray area, that we would not leave the police without the ability to carry out their core business (...) There is no question that we find yourself with nothing in the coming days, "said David Le Bars of the police commissioners union late in the afternoon.
A working group set up
"A working group will be responsible by September 1 for determining the techniques and material substitution means, in which officials will then be trained," announce Christophe Castaner and Laurent Nuñez.
"Because there may have been misunderstanding among the police, it should be clarified that this does not call into question, in cases of physical confrontations with individuals who oppose resistance, the possibility of carrying out a rear hold so as to bring the individual to the ground to handcuff him, "they add.
A territorial experiment of the latest generation electric impulse pistol (PIE) - the generalization of which was not requested by the unions according to the press release - will also be carried out. There are also plans to introduce pedestrian cameras "whose technology must move upmarket".