Two hours of debate in the reception room of the town hall, and the word is dropped by the socialist mayor of Chenôve Thierry Falconnet: “successful“. Thus he describes the testimonies sometimes moved, sometimes tense, but “frank“, with its administrators.
At his side, the public prosecutor Olivier Caracotch and the departmental director of public security Jean-Claude Dunand are there to answer for the actions of justice and the police. Objective ? Listen to the inhabitants, while showing that everyone acts, at their level, with their means.
– Arnaud Racape
Feeling of helplessness
The city ? It has just strengthened its municipal police, it hires mediators, offers cultural activities, the sports license at 15 euros, says the mayor. The police ? It tries to stick to its three main missions, recalls Jean-Claude Dunand: the maintenance of public order, the fight against drug trafficking, and the fight against rodeos. Justice ? It continues to break records, continues Olivier Caracotch: number of judgments, number of detainees, average length of imprisonment, everything is increasing in France! But the feeling in the room is a little different. The daily life of the inhabitants of Chenôve is often punctuated by nuisance, incivility, traffic. And nothing seems to want to change.
A marriage that turns sour
Illustration no later than this Saturday, July 2. That day, Marie-Anne is with her family, to attend her niece’s wedding. But the party is quickly spoiled by 150 people, the guests of the previous wedding. “A population that had decided to do what it wanted”testifies Marie-Anne with tears in her eyes, “by breaking the laws and respecting each other. When we left the town hall, scooters passed between our grandchildren without helmets, full speed, passing in the middle of our guests. And there we say to ourselves but that said the police, who was at the end of the street?”
Response from Thierry Falconnet: “The emotion of this mother is palpable, legitimate, I share it, these acts are intolerable. Some of my colleagues want to make the newlyweds pay a deposit to avoid overflows, but in the name of what article of law? I prefer to what we sensitize people, and they will be sensitized since there are more than 40 tickets which have been drawn up by the national police and the municipal police for not wearing seat belts, driving in the wrong direction, excessive speed, etc.
Notes of hope
At the microphone, the testimonies follow one another. So-and-so sees traffic in his stairwell, another his burnt car, yet another is afraid to leave her house. Even Thierry Falconnet goes with his somewhat dark formula: “I no longer want to talk about living together, because I know that people no longer believe in it”.
Yet other inhabitants come with their share of hope. Yes, Chenôve is a pleasant town, and yes, this youth has a future, courageously advances Lola, 21, a law student, and one of the youngest in the room. “If we show these young people that we are there to help them see something other than their daily lives, drugs, trafficking, they are not lost, of course not!”. Mimoun could have fallen into the deal, but he was saved by sport and boxing. We need more sport, to meet these young people, “we can save the next generation” he says to the audience.
In the end, everyone leaves with the feeling of having been able to say things, and that’s already it. “Working for public security is about cooperation, trust, it’s thankless, invisible work, the results of which you don’t necessarily see immediately on the ground”, concludes Thierry Falconnet. And to continue these exchanges and continue to report on his action to the population, the elected official announces the creation of a participative council for public security, which he intends to meet three times a year.