This was the wish of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, traveling at the end of January to Coucouron, in Ardèche, to compensate for the closure of the gendarmerie brigades in rural areas. The first mobile gendarmerie brigade has been meeting the population of the Montagne Ardéchoise for a month. During the presidential period, this mobile brigade makes it possible above all to collect proxies, for some residents, just down from their homes. This Tuesday, she parked in Saint-Cirgues-en-Montagne.
– Louis Fontaine
Contact, proximity and service
In this fitted motorhomethe gendarmes render a service, but it is also an opportunity to regain a closeness, a link sometimes lost with the rural population for Chief Warrant Officer Guillemet: “It’s really essential to present yourself in these parts of the Ardèche because we have a sector which is very large in area and with municipalities which are all far from each other. This vehicle is very important for keep in touch with the population” she insists.
“Thanks to the brigade, I don’t have to travel 200 km round trip to vote for the presidential election” – Henry, originally from Drôme, based in Saint-Cirgues-en-Montagne
Two brigades less since 2014
This concept of an itinerant brigade was tested in the sector of the Community of Brigades (COB) of Lanarce from the summer of 2021. Objective, to allow the gendarmes to go as close as possible to the population of this district of 580 km². In total, 21 municipalities of Haute Ardèche and 4,051 inhabitants can benefit from this initiative. It follows the disappearance of the brigades of Saint-Étienne-de-Lugdarès and Le Béage.
– Louis Fontaine
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A few days before the first round of the presidential election, France Blue Drome Ardeche shares his microphone with seven students from the school of journalism in ESJ Pro, in Montpellier. From Monday March 28 to Friday April 1, for a week, they will meet the Ardéchois, from the Cévennes to the Mountains, to tell us about the most beautiful citizen initiatives “Here, how do we do it?” to heal, move around, eat, adapt to climate change, love each other, in the only department of France without a motorway and a passenger train.
Find their reports on the radio antenna of France Bleu Drôme Ardèche at 7:15 and 7:45 every morning and on www.francebleu.fr