The statistics for 2021 don’t mean much. After a year 2020 marked by a fall in delinquency, in particular because of the confinements and curfews imposed by the health crisis, the year 2021 seems to be that of “return to normal” for the police and gendarmes. In Rennes, as in most French metropolises, the emphasis has been placed on the fight against drug trafficking, encouraged by the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin. With what results? Difficult to establish as the year 2020 had been abnormal. But trends are emerging.
Without making big shots, the police in Ille-et-Vilaine saw their seizures increase dramatically compared to “the Covid year”: + 80% for cannabis and + 100% for cocaine from January to November. These figures unveiled this Friday by local authorities confirm the efforts made, in particular by the police, to disrupt drug trafficking. “Has the traffic increased? I do not know. But our activity, it has strongly increased ”, assures the police commissioner Luca Togni, departmental director of public security (DDSP). Its services, which have received human reinforcements, have identified “44 points of deal” in the five municipalities in their area covering Rennes, Chantepie, Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande, Cesson-Sévigné and Saint-Grégoire. “In these places, our presence is daily,” assures the commissioner, before acknowledging. “Despite our efforts, the traffic continues.”
In Saint-Jacques, 46 dealers identified
At his side, the public prosecutor abounds. “We know that the quality of life of people who live near the points of deal is very degraded. We have stepped up our efforts in certain places, in particular on the occupancy of building halls and the feeling seems to be improving, ”assures Philippe Astruc. The magistrate cites the example of the Morinais district, in Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande, where Wilhem Houssin was killed in July, beaten up by young dealers. “The first idea you have to rule out is that it’s the same three or four people who are there all the time. On this point of deal, we identified 46 people suspected of trafficking, ”explains the prosecutor.
Rennes: The gates of a school covered to prevent children from the sight of dealers https://t.co/ftkwAeZ30F via @ 20minutesRennes pic.twitter.com/cSerU4qcEZ
– 20 Minutes Rennes (@ 20minutesrennes) June 3, 2021
In Saint-Jacques, the increased presence of the police did not stop the traffic, far from it. But the transactions take place at a place “further away from the school”. “The aggressiveness seems to have decreased”, assures the magistrate. Seated at his side, the prefect Emmanuel Berthier is responsible for recalling that “the department of Ille-et-Vilaine is a safe department”, promising that “delinquency is maintained”. The prefect evokes a delinquency rate of “52 per 1,000 inhabitants in Rennes”, against 78 per 1,000 in Nantes, or 86 per 1,000 in Rouen. Positive point: damage to property has declined. Negative point: attacks on natural persons are more and more numerous.
In 2021, police are not alone in noting an increase in drug-related interventions. Since the start of the year, the Ille-et-Vilaine gendarmerie has issued 550 flat-rate fines. But above all, it has aligned 1,300 people guilty of driving under the influence of drugs. ” It’s a record. This is not so surprising because when we search, we find, ”explains Colonel Sébastien Jaudon. The boss of the gendarmes of the department specifies that these 1,300 offenses have become “a little more numerous than the conduct under the empire of an alcoholic state”.