Learn lessons from the crisis. On June 27, young Nahel was killed by a police officer in Nanterre, following a refusal to comply. Nearly ten days of urban violence followed – first in Nanterre, then throughout France –, driven in particular by the shocking images of this police officer shooting while the vehicle was stationary.
Four months, almost to the day, after this episode of riots reviving memories of the “suburban crisis”, the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, presented this Thursday afternoon a series of measures taken from this crisis. “These responses do not only concern priority neighborhoods (QPV),” insists those around him. And remember that more than half of the approximately 1,300 priority neighborhoods were not affected by this episode of violence. Conversely, a third of the cities that have been affected do not have neighborhoods of this type. 20 minutes takes an overview of the main avenues adopted by the executive.
A municipal police force with extended powers
It’s a sea serpent, almost a little magic phrase that comes out during each episode of riots: extend the powers of the municipal police. “Their role was important, even decisive on numerous occasions” during this summer’s violence, underlines Matignon. The Prime Minister’s services would like these agents – who report to the town hall, and whose mission is mainly to ensure public peace – to be able to carry out judicial police actions: checking files, seizing objects, etc. “On certain offenses only,” we hasten to add.
Problem: in May 2021, the Constitutional Council rejected the experiment on expanding the powers of the municipal police, ardently defended by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. The Sages then recalled that judicial police acts must be placed under the direction and control of the judicial authority. To avoid a new push-back, Matignon is considering a “mechanism so that there is control of the floors”.
Empowering parents
“A third of the people arrested last night are young people or even very young people. I call on parents to take responsibility,” Emmanuel Macron tweeted last summer, the day after another night of riots. His Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, followed suit, declaring that it was necessary to “remind parents that they care for their kids”. Analysis of the convictions linked to this episode revealed that 30% of those accused were minors. “Most have no history and have family fragilities,” explains Matignon.
To dissuade them, the government wants to increase the penalties linked to non-compliance with the curfew. A sentence of banning from social networks is being considered, as is “supervision” by the military. But the main part concerns their parents: the government intends to “empower them”. To do this, he wishes to toughen the penalty for “abstracting parents from their legal obligations” by creating an aggravating circumstance when their child has committed an offense: the parents could then be sentenced to accountability courses or subjected to labor work. general interest. Furthermore, Elisabeth Borne wants parents, “separated or not”, to be “financially responsible for the damage caused” by their minor child.
Rethinking the delinquency prevention strategy
One question remains: how can we not get to this point? The government assures us, “the entire delinquency prevention strategy is being rethought”. Vast program. From the start of the 2024 school year, moral and civic education courses will be doubled. Likewise, in line with what Emmanuel Macron announced this summer with the opening of schools from mid-August, the government wants to extend the hours of leisure centers. Objective: that young people do not “hang around” in the street.
Discussions are also underway to create “republican action forces”. The idea? Decline the principle of CRS 8, this company sent urgently in the event of urban violence to restore calm. This time, it would not be a question of sending police officers but agents from other services – from Justice, but also from city policies, from Sports – for a given time in a neighborhood. The government also wants to strengthen the “presence of adults”, and in particular of social mediators, in these neighborhoods. Matignon wants more of them, but also wants to “professionalize” the sector. One question remains, and not the least important: will these measures make it possible to restore the link between the police and the population?