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Four gendarmes travel the roads of Calvados aboard a motorhome. This local mobile brigade welcomes, informs and takes complaints from all members of the public in several villages in the department. #TheyHaveTheSolution
If the gendarmes of Saint-Tropez used to drive around in a white coupé cabriolet, it was aboard a very simple motorhome that the gendarmes of Calvados chose to travel to several villages in the department. Four gendarmes are now part of this innovative system which makes it possible to cover the whole territory and to get as close as possible to the inhabitants in rural areas.
This local mobile brigade is responsible, on board a motorhome in the colors of the gendarmerie, for welcoming, informing and dealing with complaints from all members of the public in rural areas. Their vehicle, equipped with the same database as in a barracks, stops every week at the markets, the only meeting point. Neighborhood disputes, requests for information, road safety or filing of complaints: these are the main missions of this brigade.
This truck makes life easier for residents, such as older people who have difficulty getting around. This mobile brigade also makes it easier for people in rural areas to confide in each other and provide valuable information on various cases. “A person, for example, came to talk about drug trafficking in one of the municipalities”reveals one of the gendarmes.
These gendarmes in motorhomes now criss-cross seven towns in Calvados: Molay-Littry, Bonnebosq, Noues de Sienne, Clécy, Moyaux, Blainville-sur-Orne and Cagny. It is the very first local mobile brigade in Normandy, the second of its kind in France. The experiment started in the Sarthe. For nearly a year, a local mobile brigade has been crisscrossing the roads of the department, always with the mission of renewing dialogue with the population.