“Cities of our size suffer from a real abandonment of the State. In a letter written to the attention of the “public authorities”, supporting a petition sent to a specialized platform, the mayor of Espira-de-l’Agly expresses his fed up with a handful of miners who reign terror in his village of 3,489 inhabitants, located in the metropolis of Perpignan, in the Pyrenees -Orientales.
“Espira-de-l’Agly is facing a rise in incivility and drug trafficking. For several months this trafficking and acts of violence have increased in the town center, explains Philippe Fourcade (SE), the mayor. As the mayor’s powers are limited to maintaining public peace, filing a complaint becomes the only possible course of action. This is why in the month of December 2022 alone, five complaints were filed against the same group of young people by the security deputy. These incivilities have a cost for the community in 2022 of nearly 10,000 euros in repairs. »
“They know very well that they are not risking much”
Complaints remained unanswered: “As minors, they know very well that they do not risk much and continue, without scruple, their misdeeds after their passage in justice, underlines the city councilor. The city cannot, and should not, replace the missions of the State in terms of public security. Our municipal police cannot supplement this sovereign competence. »
Suspicions of cannabis trafficking, incessant noise at night, damage of all kinds… The list of incivilities is long. Alerted and summoned, the parents, for the most part very well integrated into the village, would be overwhelmed by the attitude of their children. “Understand that this is above all a citizen’s call to make the voice of our municipality heard with the State so that the situation changes in our city, hoping that none of the citizens will take action. and take justice into his own hands, pushed to the limit, ”warns the municipality in its letter.