Judicial police investigators gather in Toulouse, to say no to a reform
Police officers gather this Thursday, it is rare enough to underline it. Judicial police investigators are concerned about a reform which would consolidate the services. The appointment is therefore given this Thursday, at 12:15 p.m. in front of the Toulouse police station. Christophe, a member of the PJ (judicial police) – whose name is not given for questions of right of reserve – agreed to testify on France bleu Occitanie. He is also vice-president of the brand new National Association of Judicial Police.
France bleu: You are protesting against a police reform supposed to come into force next January, explain to us what worries you?
Christopher : It is proposed to us to regroup at the departmental level and to regroup all the investigators who carry out judicial investigations in one and the same direction. By mixing everyday delinquency and all other more serious offenses and crimes.
And we understand, what does that mean? Does that mean that you can be sent on a banal car theft while you are dealing more with drug cases, terrorism for example?
It’s exactly that. Our police colleagues are responsible for the less serious offences, even if they are unbearable on a daily basis and very toxic for everyone’s life. And we, in the judicial police, we need more time and more expertise, more experience to deal with the most serious offences. Either because they are indeed very important like homicide cases or terrorism cases, or because they require a lot of time, because it is about narco banditry with international implications. So we each have our niche, we each do our investigations with our different experiences.
When you say you need more time, just to get an idea, the investigations in Toulouse, where you are 80 PJ investigators, how long do you take on average?
Depending on the files, we can leave between 18 months and two years on an investigation, whether on a narcotics importation network, or on homicides linked to drug trafficking, or on complex financial crimes. We need to bring a lot of evidence, elements of understanding for the courts, and for this case to be judged in fairness. So we spend a lot of time activating the different schemes, especially if it is necessary to involve foreign authorities, as for example for drug trafficking, since France is not a producer of large-scale drug trafficking, that comes from the stranger. And to be able to dismantle networks, it takes a lot of time.
Are you also afraid for your independence?
I dare to hope not. I dare to hope that the Republic functions well. But currently, the judicial police do not respond to local authorities. The prefect has no regard for our work. He is aware of course, since he is a representative of the State and we are civil servants. But we don’t have the right of citizenship before the prefect, whereas the reform would put us under departmental authority, with a director who would manage all police services at the local level and who would report directly to the prefect. The reform written black on white that it is also made to get closer to local elected officials.
Are you afraid that there are pressures?
In financial matters or before electoral situations, one can imagine that the police could possibly be put under pressure, to be more or less interested in this or that offence, and therefore lose our capacity for independence. And especially our possibility of working on files which are very important and which are very harmful to the balance of society.
Faced with the revolt which is organized everywhere in France, there are two information missions which are transmitted to the National Assembly and to the Senate. What do you hope for?
Before the association was created, that is to say in mid-August of this year, the had to apply and that was it. We showed our leaders that we did not agree, that we had doubts and we provided them with concrete information.
So you hope she gets dropped?
I would like to keep this hope that it is abandoned, indeed. Or at the very least, that we are listened to so that it is amended in a vision that allows us to continue to exercise our missions as they currently operate. Because the judicial police are currently working.