“We must above all not bring justice against the police”, estimated on franceinfo Monday, May 2 Jean-Christophe Couvy, national secretary of the SGP Police union. He reacts to the rallies that are taking place in several cities in France at the call of the Alliance, Synergie and UNSA unions to support their colleague prosecuted for “intentional homicide” after having killed two men, after a refusal to comply, on the evening of 24 April, on the Pont Neuf.
franceinfo: Why don’t you take part in this gathering?
Jean-Christophe Couvy: We support our colleague like all police officers in France, we are always by his side. Afterwards, it is necessary to dispassionate the debates. We made contact with his lawyer, his defender, who said that it was useless to increase the pressure and that on the contrary, to prepare a defense, you need calm. We have to take the pressure off. Above all, we must not divide, as Alliance and the UNSA do, and not bring justice against the police.
Do you trust justice more than other unions?
The police work with justice every day. We know the magistrates, we know the public prosecutors. You can’t suddenly say they’re anti-police. I don’t do populism, I do unionism. In a case like this, we want to help our colleagues to be better taken into account. When there is a case like that, it is not normal for our colleagues to go directly into custody like robbers. We want a specialized jurisdiction. Magistrates must be made aware of the psychology of the use of police weapons. One could imagine for all the forces of order a police custody arranged. This is to be discussed with the judiciary. We are not here to oppose the magistrates, we want to work with them. On the other hand, we have normally functional protection. But for this policeman, the administration after three or four days has not yet deigned to give him a lawyer. When something like this happens, our administration must be closer to us.
Do you think this rally is counterproductive until the trial has taken place?
The magistrate followed the case law. Holding a demonstration with banners, like a fair, is not necessarily what is useful to our colleague. On the other hand, to make a silent demonstration, in the emotion, I could understand it. But here we see that it’s a trade union fix and that bothers me compared to my colleagues. The problem is what will become of our colleagues during the whole time of the instruction? This is where the fight must be waged. This is the role of trade unionists. Three quarters of the police work with the justice system every day. We must end the schism between the police and the justice system. We must be together and not against each other.