The Director General of the National Police Frédéric Veaux denounces the platform signed by a hundred former police officers. – NICOLAS MESSYASZ / SIPA
After two military columns published in Current values, it is a platform signed by former police officers which is debated. In this open letter addressed to the President of the Republic, to the government and to parliamentarians, 93 retired police officers are calling for “measures” to “restore the authority of the State”.
“Your initiative weakens our institution more than it strengthens it”, reacted the Director General of the National Police Frédéric Veaux, in a letter dated May 12, unveiled by Europe 1. He also reminded the former police officers that their statute does not “exempt them from the obligation of reserve”.
25,000 signatures on online petitions sites
In line with recent military forums denouncing in particular the “disintegration” of France, the former police officers call on elected officials to “do everything possible to put an end to the extremely serious situation that France is going through in terms of security and of public tranquility ”.
Believing that “fear must change sides”, they demand in particular an “adapted penal response” so that “the sentences are really carried out and up to the crimes committed”. The forum, also posted on several online petitions sites, had collected some 25,000 signatures on Friday.
The DGPN invites “a constructive and unifying discourse”
In reaction, the DGPN also invited the signatories to “take note” of the measures taken by the Minister of the Interior, described as “significant progress”. They give the police “the means of their authority” and allow them “to act with better efficiency”, argues Frédéric Veaux.
On the subject of the penal response, he refers them to the “recent announcements” of the government, which are “likely to change things for the better” and “meet the expectations of our fellow citizens and the police”.
“The national police today need more self-confidence, unity, cohesion in its ranks, without partisan spirit”, writes the DGPN again. “It seems to me that our elders could contribute to it by a constructive and unifying speech”, he concludes.