The judicial police of Avignon oppose the reform of the Minister of the Interior
The mobilization against the reform of the judicial police is not weakening in the police stations. In Avignon, the scheduled operations will be postponed, with the agreement of the magistrate. The investigators denounce the reform project carried out by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. He plans the reorganization of the police services. All these services would be placed under the authority of a single departmental director. The judicial police are afraid of losing their independence and their means. In addition, in Marseilles, the mobilization against this project enhanced the dismissal of the boss of the PJ, Eric Arella, much appreciated by the police, who added fuel to the fire.
Fear of loss of independence
The judicial police of Avignon is made up of 25 police officers, dispatched in three brigades : criminal, financial and narcotic. In recent years, the service has worked on big cases, such as the Mazan rapes, the balcony rapist or the numerous settling of scores. Claude Simonetti, of the SGP Police FO union, evokes “the elite of the French police” and cites the murder of police officer Eric Masson. “In this case, of the people likely to be the perpetrators, there were many, he explains. It is necessary to sort this information, to have the time to do it, to release manpower available day and night. With this reform, will we be able to detach as many people on this kind of business?
The PJ has its autonomy, in particular thanks to substantial resources. At the police station in Avignon, for example, she is entitled to 10 cars, which is a lot compared to other services. Philippe Toussaint is commander of the Synergie Officiers union. He fears that in the event of reorganization, these means will be dedicated to other missions. “We should perhaps take files from public security or departmental security, which are overworked, to relieve them. If we lost investigators, we would be weakened, we could no longer invest in long-term files. “he dreads.