- The National Observatory of Police Practices and Violence (ONVP) and the collective Urgence notre police assassine have just launched an application to film the actions of the police.
- "The idea is that people can use this app as a tool, a weapon for surveillance and citizen protection," said Amal Bentounsi, one of the founders of the collective.
- Police unions are standing up against this app, which is considered "dangerous". The National Police Alliance union indicates to 20 Minutes that it made a referral to the Ministry of the Interior to "see if this application is in the nails".
Images to "protect" and bring out "the truth" ... Associations of families of victims of "police violence" have just launched an application to film the interventions of the police on the ground in order to collect "Evidence" in case of breaches or "burrs". Called "Police Violence Emergency", this free app allows you to save images and send them live on a secure server so that you can use them in the event of legal proceedings.
The application is currently available on Android, where it has already been downloaded more than a thousand times in a few days, and soon on the iPhone. Inspired by "copwatching", a practice born in the United States in the 1990s, this tool is the fruit of "several years of reflection and observation of behavior" by the French police. "It has been eight years, with the collective Urgence notre police assassine, and four years, with the National Observatory of Police Practices and Violence (ONPVP), that we have identified and made public opinion aware of this issue" , explains to 20 Minutes Amal Bentounsi, one of the founders of the collective.
“Geolocated” videos
The application is very easy to use. To keep the images, just one click. The videos, of a maximum duration of ten minutes, are geolocalized and sent in real time on the secure server of the association. “We designed the app to deal with all eventualities. We advise to film without comment, showing the police officer's plaque, his RIO registration number [the identification number that each officer must wear visibly] and his face in order to be able to identify him in court if necessary, "explains the Observatory. National Police Practices and Violence (ONPVP).
"The idea is that people can use this app as a tool, a weapon for citizen surveillance and protection," added Amal Bentounsi, whose brother Amine was shot in the back in 2012. Noisy-le-Sec (Seine-Saint-Denis) while trying to flee the police. “When they are filmed, the police very often seize the phones. Either they erase the video, or they break the cellphone to make the images disappear, "explains the activist, who specifies that this device is not only intended for victims of" police violence ", but is also aimed" at people who have been insulted or stigmatized because of repeated identity checks ”. The citizen "must be able to defend himself", and the police "must know that he is being watched," she adds.
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"Police violence affects everyone"
In the Paris region, in Villiers-le-Bel, Mantes-la-Jolie and Grigny, where this new device was presented at the end of last week, "the young people thanked us, and promised to make" turn ". They've been waiting for this for years, ”says Amal Bentounsi. “There was a real demand. This application compensates for an institutional lack. We've been trying to find solutions for years: setting up the RIO, camera-pedestrian… At one point, that's enough! We can no longer deny today that this violence exists, and that it affects very different populations today ”.
"Yellow vests", demonstrators against pension reform, or more recently feminist activists…. Since the change of doctrine concerning the maintenance of order operated by the Ministry of the Interior, images of police violence have indeed multiplied in recent months on social networks and video sharing platforms, and a climate of distrust has taken hold with regard to the police. "Before, violence only affected young people in the neighborhood, today it affects everyone," also points out the National Observatory of Police Practices and Violence (ONPVP).
Immediately released from “Urgences # ViolencesPolicières”: “The purpose of the application is citizen surveillance of the police. It is the result of many years of reflection and observation of the behavior of the French #police. ” https://t.co/YSNluUDiDp pic.twitter.com/cfbpWpoanQ
- David Dufresne (@davduf) March 10, 2020"An indiscriminate police stigma"
Police unions, for their part, are standing up against this application, which is considered "dangerous". The National Police Alliance union sees it “once again a stigmatization of the police officers without real discernment”. "This application tries to replace the authorities and procedures that already exist: the prosecution, the General Police Inspectorate (IGPN), the Defender of Rights ... I believe that the arsenal to denounce a possible disproportionate use of force is largely fleshed out so that we do not go to invent new tools which, in addition, would be out of all control ”, regrets Stanislas Gaudon, general delegate for communication of the union.
“Spreading the faces of the police in the media and on social media would do nothing to bring the truth out. This would especially endanger the police and their families who, as we saw during the terrorist attack in Magnanville or in Igny [a couple of police officers had been beaten up in front of their children], are often targeted or threatened ”, adds Stanislas Gaudon. Beyond the question of the anonymity of the police, the union Synergie Officers is afraid, for its part, of seeing the tool used to "locate police operations in real time and bring rioters back to the field during intervention, in the halls of suburban buildings, for example ”.
Interior Ministry seized
Alliance National Police, very invested on this question, does not intend to stop there. "We made a referral to the Ministry of the Interior to see if this application is in the nails. We will verify that all this is legal, that it is in particular in accordance with the legislation on the conservation of images. Video protection is, in general, very regulated, it is subject to authorizations, declarations in the prefecture ... Has the Cnil been seized? There are a lot of elements to check… ”, said unionist Stanislas Gaudon at 20 Minutes .
The taking of images of a policeman on the public highway is a legal practice, the provisions of which are detailed in a circular dated December 2008. The Ministry of the Interior specifies that “the police do not benefit from any particular protection in matters image rights ”, except in the case of special missions, such as the GIGN, the BIS or anti-terrorism. A note from the general direction of the national police also reminded the police at the beginning of 2018 that they have no right to oppose the shots taken against them.
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