“We make him wear the hat”: earthquake in Marseille within the PJ with the ousting of the boss
By Writing Marseilles
Published on
Thunderbolt: the eviction, Friday October 7, 2022, of the boss of the judicial police (PJ) for the south of France, the day after an action by his troops in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) against the reform of the PJ, brought hundreds of police officers to the streets.
Eric Arella for seven years had been leading investigations into serious crime and in particular narcobanditism from Perpignan to Nice, via Marseillesone of the cities hardest hit by this scourge.
“He was always faithful”
“It’s a shame, we blame him. He has always been faithful. And it is almost all of the officials who are against this reform ”, wanted by the government, a source from the PJ in Marseille told AFP. “Everyone is stunned, it’s a shock,” an executive from a central office of the judicial police told AFP.
It was by a simple phone call that Eric Arella learned of his landing at midday, immediately prompting calls to appear throughout France from police officers and magistrates who had been worried for weeks about the reform in preparation.
“Such disloyalty is not acceptable”
This eviction was confirmed to AFP by the general direction of the national police (DGPN). “As with any reform, there are discussions, there may be disagreements. But such disloyalty is not acceptable, ”says those around the DGPN.
The director general of the national police (DGPN), Frédéric Veaux, was obviously not appreciated, Thursday, to be received in Marseille by some 200 officers mobilized against this reform.
On leaving the meeting, Mr. Veaux crossed the corridors in an icy atmosphere, forced to split a hedge of police demonstrating arms crossed and silent, according to a video sent to AFP on Thursday. “He is blamed for the officers’ coup yesterday,” commented another local police source.
“Thank you patron”
Immediately after the announcement, hundreds of officers gathered in Marseilles, Toulon or allowed to do so in Nice and Montpellier and throughout France. In Marseille, there were around 200 shouting “bravo”, “thank you boss”. They were joined by prosecutors and investigating judges from the specialized interregional jurisdiction which handles serious crime cases.
“The results in Marseille are bad with record levels of homicides while the workforce has been reinforced”, was also commented in the entourage of the DGPN to explain the eviction of the one whom many magistrates and police describe as “big cop”.
At the end of June, 60% of account settlements resolved in Marseille
Since the beginning of the year, 25 people have been shot dead in homicides linked to drug trafficking in the Bouches-du-Rhône, according to the police headquarters. As throughout 2021.
In Marseille, at the end of June, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, was pleased that “here, 60% of these settlements of accounts have been resolved, that is to say that it is an extremely positive figure since, in France, we solve about 30% of attempted homicides”. The reform of the PJ arouses enormous reluctance.
Carried by the Minister of the Interior and Frédéric Veaux, the project plans to place all the police services of a department – intelligence, public security, border police (PAF) and PJ – under the authority of a only Departmental Director of the National Police (DDPN), reporting to the prefect.
“Big damage to organized crime investigations”
“We know that there will be great damage to investigations into organized crime because of the restructuring. We fight to defend our core business. It’s really a vocation, a personal investment, “said AFP Thierry, head of the brigade within the Anti-Narcotics Office (Ofast) who was demonstrating on Friday in Marseille against the ousting of Eric. Arelle.
“Who will soon be able to deal with our investigations of social and tax fraud, our investigations that we want to initiate on the large money laundering circuit or on the embezzlement of public funds? “, had worried, at the end of September, the prosecutor of Marseilles, Dominique Laurens.
The Attorney General of the Versailles Court of Appeal, Marc Cimamonti, himself described this reform as “four times bad”.
Mr. Arella, who will leave the IGPN from Monday, is replaced by Dominique Abbenanti, currently security attaché in Algiers, we added on the side of the DGPN.
Source: © 2022AFP
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