Following the publication of racist and anti-Semitic messages in a CRS 4 WhatsApp group, the IGPN opens an investigation

“Le Canard chainé” published, on Wednesday, screenshots of racist and anti-Semitic photomontages exchanged, according to the newspaper, by CRS 4 police officers on a WhatsApp group.

A false advertisement with a photo of a sinking migrant boat, accompanied by the slogan “Petit Chavire – with real pieces of migrants inside”. A replica of Adolf Hitler in “Minister of Energy”on the steps of the Elysée, who declared: “Let’s get out of nuclear power and all go back to gas.” These are examples of photomontages that circulated in a WhatsApp group, used since 2019 by police officers from the Republican Security Company (CRS) number 4, according to revelations from Chained Duck. The satirical weekly publishes some of them in its edition of Wednesday June 26.

“This very special messaging section in which a quarter of the company participated served as a dumping ground for racist and anti-Semitic hatred,” writes the newspaper, which claims that “number of participants” to this WhatsApp loop “internal to the unit” are inserted in Alliance. The officials of this police union, contacted by franceinfo, did not wish to comment. “These screenshots had not been brought to the attention of the General Inspectorate of the National Police”reacts to franceinfo the IGPN, which adds that “all light must be shed”with the opening of an investigation into these racist and anti-Semitic messages and photomontages, franceinfo learned on Thursday from the General Directorate of the National Police.

In his investigation, The chained Duck assures that the deputy head of CRS 4, a captain, “active member” from this WhatsApp group, “did not hide his nostalgia for the Third Reich and his love for Jean-Marie Le Pen”. The weekly asserts, however, that this was not the case for the commander of this unit, who, for his part, launched the alert on “an extreme right-wing drift within the company”, “on several occasions”. The chained Duck also relates a scene, which took place on October 15, 2022 in front of the Sorbonne in Paris. That day, Eric Zemmour paid tribute to Samuel Paty, two years after the assassination of the history-geography teacher. Marion Maréchal was at his side. According to the newspaper, the members of the CRS 4 then asked her to take selfies. In reaction, the commander “issues a call to order.”

However, ten months later, in a “anonymous letter” Who “landed” on the desk of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, the boss of CRS 4, based in Lagny-sur-Marne (Seine-et-Marne), is presented as “an influential Freemason”, Who “spends his time playing golf and helps himself to the till, notably to organize his son’s wedding”reports The chained DuckContacted by franceinfo, the ministry did not wish to comment.

In the fall of 2023, the commander of CRS 4 finds himself targeted by a preliminary investigation for suspicion of misappropriation of public property and violation of professional secrecy. As franceinfo revealed in November, IGPN investigators, to whom the Meaux prosecutor entrusted the case, are carrying out investigations into the hundreds of overtime hours declared by this 56-year-old commander, whom he is suspected of not having carried out. They are also seeking to shed light on his personal travels and his son’s engagement meal, for which he is suspected of having embezzled food from his unit. Facts which were ultimately not retained at the end of the investigation, his lawyer told franceinfo on Wednesday.

The IGPN also looked into the reasons that led this commander to take equipment from his unit outside the planned framework, in order to share it with a friend, the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis. In addition, in an internal inspection report written by the central management of the CRS, of which franceinfo had a copy, the police officer is described as “chronically absent from his barracks”, “more focused on his golf and swimming than on his mission in the service of maintaining order”.

As part of this investigation, this commander was taken into police custody at the end of May, franceinfo learned on Wednesday from the public prosecutor of Meaux, Jean-Baptiste Bladier. He is the subject of a summons before the Meaux Criminal Court on December 4 for “embezzlement of public funds”, the total amount of which reaches approximately 33,000 euros. “The investigation has therefore brought to light facts that are much more limited than what the press had initially suggested,” Jean-Baptiste Bladier points out, specifying that the person concerned disputes the facts. Pending his appearance in court, the commander of CRS 4 is suspended and prohibited from exercising hierarchical functions within the national police.

While The chained Duck mentions the filing of a “half a dozen complaints” from CRS 4 police officers “West Indian or of foreign origin”the Meaux prosecutor tells franceinfo that he has not been seized “for facts of a racist nature”. However, Jean-Baptiste Bladier specifies that investigations for moral harassment are underway. They aim “a certain number of executives and staff who are, or have been, stationed within CRS 4”. Whose captain, deputy commander of the unit? While The chained Duck claims that he was transferred to CRS 51, where “he now assumes interim command”, The national police responded to franceinfo that he no longer held his position within the CRS 4, without giving further details.

In a previous case involving dozens of racist remarks made in a WhatsApp chat group between police officers, the Evreux police court sentenced five officers in November 2021 to fines of between €150 and €1,000 for “non-public insults of a racist nature”. More recently, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights urged the 27 member states of the European Union to: “take urgent measures” For “eradicate racism” in the police, despite “the difficulty in fully assessing the magnitude” of the phenomenon.