“We are sacrificed to catch up with the 55,000 late public security files. But this reform is useless, it simply shifts the problem,” said Christophe, an official from the Toulouse judicial police, also vice-president of the association. National Judicial Police (ANPJ).

Behind him, 60 men and women equipped with “judicial police” vests partly blocked by black tape. “The reform that awaits us in 2023 will kill our function. All the investigators of the judicial police will be divided into departments which will deal with everything and nothing at the same time. Who will take care of murders and other cases which will become a real expertise?” asks Laurent, a member of the Toulouse office of the anti-narcotics office (OFAST).

Risks of small arrangements?

Initiated by Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior, this new reorganization aims to bring together, in each department of France, the four national police departments (judicial police, public security, border police and territorial intelligence) within a same sector placed under the command of a departmental director of the national police (DDPN). With this reform, all power would be concentrated in the hands of a single man, the DDPN, himself placed under the authority of the prefect. “If a politician is prosecuted for a financial history, it should not be surprising that the investigation stops. This centralized operation could protect certain white-collar offenders”, fears another police officer.

According to them, the PJ must remain a separate entity, capable of dealing with the most serious facts in the former Midi-Pyrénées region. ” We are going straight into the wall. We must cancel this reorganization. Our fight has only just begun, the next round will take place on October 17, before the Toulouse judicial court. We hope that the magistrates, who will owe our association, will be present them too”, confides Christophe, vice-president of the national association of the judicial police.

The reform was originally supposed to come into force on January 1, but this date has already been postponed in the face of the outcry it has caused among the “péjistes”. Will the dialogue make it possible to renew the link between the police and the government? Not won.