Bruno Bartocetti, national secretary of the SGP-FO Police unit union responsible for the southern zone, went to Marseille to meet the police who are contesting the imprisonment of a colleague.
Bruno Bartocetti, national secretary of the SGP-FO Police Unit union in charge of the southern zone, judges this Saturday July 22 on franceinfo that the dialogue with the director general of the national police Frédéric Veaux has been “constructive”. The latter went to Marseille to meet the staff of the anti-crime brigades (BAC), angry after the incarceration of one of theirs, suspected of having beaten a man on the sidelines of the riots in early July. In this case, four police officers, including the one placed in detention, are indicted.
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In response to this, the union called on all police officers in the national territory to put themselves in 562, a code within the police stations which means in a “waiting position”, i.e. on minimum service.
franceinfo: Do you maintain this call for protest mobilization after the discussions you had today with Frédéric Veaux?
Bruno Bartocetti: We maintain this call. At the same time, this morning we had a dialogue with the Director General – and we can welcome his arrival – which was quite constructive. With the presumption of innocence that applies to our colleagues, it was important to be certain that salaries would be maintained for them.
We have this promise from the director general but I do not hide from you that we maintained enormous pressure to have it and it is frequent that we are suspended from our functions without pay within the framework of a presumption of innocence and without condemnation. It is something serious and unbearable.
The second important point for us was to bring up to our director general that what is unbearable today in our ranks is to have a police officer in pre-trial detention when all the guarantees are raised to be able to allow the continuation of this procedure.
The fact that there are police officers indicted, is it possible in your opinion?
The fact that there are police officers under investigation is a legal procedure and we do not dispute it. There is always this presumption of innocence. If there is an investigation, it must take its course. There is no discussion about this. What is important, I insist, is the fact that we can remand police officers who are implicated in the exercise of their profession. We are asked to go on all fronts and when we leave, the situation turns against us.
“Today, the police officer is in legal uncertainty, beyond that which he encounters every day in the context of his work.”
Bruno Bartocettiat franceinfo
We, the Unit-SGP Police union, will continue our fight precisely to allow a court to work around the police with a presumption of innocence without leading the police to pre-trial detention.
We will continue to appeal to parliamentarians to work around a specialized court so that we finally protect our profession, because today the police officer is in legal uncertainty beyond that which he encounters every day in the context of his work.
If something happens tonight in Marseille taking advantage of the absence of police on the ground, what feeling would that evoke for you?
We respond to all ‘police-rescue’ calls and all emergencies will be covered by the police present on the ground. It may represent an additional delay but we will respond at the moment T to all ‘police-rescue’ calls. On the other hand, we will stay behind on initiative work.