the “clearance” operations announced by Emmanuel Macron will “not make trafficking disappear”, believes a specialist

During his press conference on Tuesday evening, Emmanuel Macron announced a whole battery of measures aimed at “rearmament” from France. The head of state wants in particular “increase the pace” of operations “clean place” against drug trafficking, to reach ten operations per week. Wednesday January 17 on franceinfo, Mathieu Zagrodzki, associate researcher at the Center for Sociological Research on Law and Penal Institutions (CESDIP), explains that these operations can also “be qualified as a sting operation” because they consist of “go harass the dealers”.

Concretely, “it involves going into the lobbies of buildings to oust possible traffickers” or “inspect cellars and common areas”. This specialist in internal security issues specifies that these “offensive operations” are currently “carried out jointly with lessors or carriers” And “at the request of the public prosecutor”. They therefore do not, according to him, “nothing new”. Mathieu Zagrodzki considers that the only novelty lies in the desire of the Head of State to “account” which until now was decided only on “the initiative of the local hierarchy”.

Police action alone cannot be enough

Mathieu Zagrodzki affirms that France “has the means [humains] to carry out ten operations of this type per week”. But he insists on the “question of its effectiveness”. First, because carrying out these operations will be done, according to him, “to the detriment of other activities” law enforcement. This researcher specializing in internal security issues also questions “the sustainable nature of this type of measures”. If he recognizes that they will allow “short term results” by establishing “temporarily a form of tranquility”he maintains that “this does not mean that traffic will disappear permanently.” “These operations have not resolved the question of trafficking nor the question of the illegal occupation of certain spaces, of certain common parts of buildings”, insists Mathieu Zagrodzki. He further considers that “police action alone cannot fight” against drugs. “It’s not just a question of safety, it’s also a question of public health”he adds.