Their three-week training, focused on maintaining order, has just ended. And from Friday, these 117 personnel who make up the new CRS 82 will be on the ground. As Monday in Marseille and Friday in Chassieu in the Lyon metropolis, a new CRS company was officially established this Thursday in Saint-Herblain near Nantes. 20 minutes takes stock of these “new generation” units.
Why the creation of these companies?
To respond to the increase in violent demonstrations and urban violence, a unit of 200 civil servants was created two years ago in Bièvres, in Essonne, under the now famous name of CRS 8. Sent regularly throughout France since , as in Nantes, Marseille or recently in Nimes, this mobile force with rapid projection has made small ones: the Ministry of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, who welcomed its usefulness, requested a year ago the establishment of four similar units in different strategic locations in the territory . This is how the CRS 81 (Marseille), 82 (Nantes), 83 (Lyon) and the future 84 (Montauban) were imagined.
What are their missions ?
Maintaining order and combating urban violence are their main missions. “The objective is for them to intervene urgently, in situations which may deteriorate,” explains Pascale Dubois, central director of the CRS who made the trip to Saint-Herblain this Thursday. This could be a demonstration that degenerates, violence, or even riots…” The authorities highlight the particular organization of these units, much more reactive than the classic CRS: “It is a complementary and highly anticipated tool because they have an action radius of around 300 km and can be activated in less than 30 minutes, 7 days a week, day and night,” specifies the prefect of Pays-de-la-Loire Fabrice Rigoulet-Roze. Then, their mission time should in theory not exceed 48 hours. “We flood, we stop the bleeding, we stabilize, and we leave,” illustrates, in short, the commander of CRS 82 Marc Prodhomme.
And the rest of the time?
When there is no emergency situation, these officials will deploy throughout their greater region or even throughout the national territory if necessary, as reinforcement to other police departments, including the judicial police. They will be mobilized on “large-scale operations” prepared and targeted, particularly in relation to drug networks and arms trafficking. Without giving details, the new Nantes CRS, which will mainly spread throughout the West, will head to Brest this weekend for its first intervention. A large place will finally be given “to their training and training time”, concludes Marc Prodhomme.
Are these units fully operational?
Subjected to a test described by some as very selective (physical conditions, technical skills, psychological profile, motivation), the candidates, already CRS for the majority of them, did not rush to respond to the call for tenders while others were rejected. So much so that the staffing levels are not complete in all the units (117 civil servants out of a target of 170 for CRS 82 for example) and that the fourth, which is to be established in Montauban, has been delayed “for the year 2024 if all goes well,” specifies Pascale Dubois. A new call, in the same terms, should be launched soon to try to supplement the workforce.