Toulouse. Proximity, visibility, responsiveness: the police are rediscovering the virtues of foot patrols
By Laurent Derne
Published on
There was a time – not so long ago – when the neighborhood policing was the alpha and omega of fight against crime. occupy the land, know the population, to be accepted, to go up pipes, to fight against the feeling of insecurity…
“You are not here to organize rugby matches! »
At the beginning of the 2000’s, Toulouse was at the forefront in this area, particularly in so-called “sensitive” neighborhoods. But in one chin shot and an scathing sentence, this fragile building, patiently built brick (pink) after brick (pink), had been demolished by the Minister of the Interior at the time, against a backdrop of Elysian ambitions: “The police are not there to organize rugby matches in the neighborhoods but to arrest the delinquents! “.
Twenty and afterukase sarkozystfirst-class burial, under the eye of the cameras, the neighborhood policingwater flowed under the bridges.
Toulouse experienced the Merah madness. A demographic expansion stunning (+100,000 inhabitants). And, mechanically, a increase in crimeboth its economic attractiveness carried by the Airbus locomotive generated in the wake of white-collar workers with high purchasing power, populations less spoiled by life.
The return of proximity
And now, in the light of yet another reform desired by the new tenant of Beauvau, Gerald Darmanincommunity policing resurfaces. With another face, with another nameto paraphrase Maxime Le Forestier.
Deemed obsolete yesterday, the foot patrol indeed collect colors in the streets of the Pink City. “Islanding is an old term, but it applies perfectly. It appoints a policeman who, in a given sector, patrols in contact with the population”, recalls Jean Cyrille Reymonddepartmental director of public security (DDSP) of Haute-Garonne.
60 targeted hotspots in Toulouse
Foot on the ground, so. The directives of the Minister of the Interior are clear: “More visibility on the public highway while tackling delinquency”. For three weeks, the DDSP 31 has been working on this through a redeployment workforce (BST, CDI, GSP, Emergency Police, SDSTC)*.
“Of the 1,650 police officers in the department, around two thirds are dedicated to public roads”
The thinking heads have targeted 91 hotspots, including around sixty in Toulouse (the rest in Colomiers, Blagnac, Tournefeuille and Saint-Gaudens, editor’s note). The public transportthe downtown, markets, around schools, shopping centres, festive establishments… “And all the places where delinquency is most marked. The idea is to deter and challenge. See. Being seen.
“I didn’t really feel insecure…”
This Wednesday, October 12, 2022, the Prefect Etienne Guyot accompanied law enforcement on the ground, Crystal Market, statistics over the shoulder. « In Haute-Garonne, September 2022 [accouche] better figures than September 2021 in terms of with violence (-25%) and violence in transport (-53%)”.
Where are the 111 additional police officers promised in 2020?
Passing through the Pink City, in October 2020, the Prime Minister at the time, Jean Castex, had promised the arrival of 111 new police officers in Toulouse. This announcement came in a context of settling of scores and fatal shootings in the Izards district.
To date, out of the promised workforce, 93 have indeed put down their suitcases on the banks of the Garonne. There are still 18 missing. “They will arrive as soon as possible”, eludes the prefect, recalling in passing that “the State has always respected the contract”.
The first “pedestrian patrol” effect that directly targets this type of delinquency? The representative of the State wants to believe it. Lawrencea market trader, sports a amused pout in front of the areopagus of uniforms deployed before his eyes. “I didn’t really feel insecure. But maybe seeing more police officers will reassure some customers…”, he ventures. And deter potential offenders?
The metro, paradise for pickpockets
the subwayof course, but also tramthe busthem stationsare all targets for pickpockets, a daily injury. “Of the 2,300 acts of crime reported in one year in public transport, 65% concern pickpocketing and only 10% violence”, recalls the divisional commissioner Patrick Caronhead of the SOP (Public Order Service).
The day before, the national police had lent a helping hand to Tisséo agents for checking tickets on the tram between the Palais de Justice and Arènes stations. “Of the 500 passengers checked, 14 had not paid for their ticket. And the operation allowed us to carry out an arrest”.
Saint-Pierre also targeted
So, 2022 or the resurrection of community policing? “It is indeed about local work”, dodges the DDSP, itself favorable to this evolution “for two years”. “We will be present wherever commercial activity and population density are significant”, abound his deputies in charge of the Left Bank and Right Bank sectors, the curators Thierry Suau and Jean-Noel Brua.
Cartridge factory, Arnaud BernardPlace Charles de Gaulle, Wilson, Jean Jaurès, Saint Michel… But also “Saint Pi”, where “a large student population and another delinquent, at the same times” (staggered) rub shoulders. Without forgetting the Grand Mirail and the northern neighborhoods. The dismantling of trafficking of all kinds (drugs, cigarettes, etc.) is clearly part of the roadmap. On foot or by bike, day or night, blue risks becoming the fashionable color in the streets of Toulouse.
*Specialized field brigade, departmental intervention company, specialized proximity group, departmental service for securing public transport… Only the BAC (anti-crime brigade) remains outside the system.
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