2023-04-20 09:06:32
Gérald Darmanin has made the war against narcotics his absolute priority, with a strategy centered on the “harassment” of consumers and dealers. But its results are rather mixed.
Some 128 tonnes of cannabis seized in 2022 (+15% compared to 2021), 28 tonnes of cocaine (+5%), 1.4 tonnes of heroin (+8%), 273 kilos of synthetic drugs (+21 %)… During his annual report on the fight against narcotics, Wednesday March 1, Gérald Darmanin welcomed a year 2022 marked by drug seizures “historical”.
Since his arrival at Place Beauvau, the Minister of the Interior has made the fight against drug trafficking his “first priority”. To do this, he applied the recipes of his predecessors in this area: a tough speech and strong repression, restoring the policy of numbers, a marker of the Sarkozy years. But don’t these seizures testify above all to an exponential increase in traffic, which the government is struggling to stem?
Pounding deal points, a “short term” strategy
It is not, however, for lack of attacking traffickers on a massive scale, in a so-called “pounding” deal points which is the cornerstone of the Darmanin method. The principle is clear: to destabilize the sellers by multiplying the control operations and the consequent police custody. Concretely, the police can be present “either in the form of uniformed, highly visible units, to dissuade consumers, or in civilian clothes, to arrest sellers in flagrante delicto, at the time of the transaction”, explains Captain Jaunatre, head of the communication department at the Rennes police station (Ille-et-Vilaine). These operations “punches” have the advantage of being visible to the inhabitants, “who are in demand of this kind of action”assures the prosecutor of Nantes (Loire-Atlantique) to our colleagues from West France (article reserved for subscribers).
This method is considered profitable “in the short term, to restore the tranquility of local residents”points out Mathieu Zagrodzki, associate researcher at the Center for Sociological Research on Law and Penal Institutions, specialist in public security issues. But it requires a lot of investment on the part of the police, for very mixed results, as confided by a police officer stationed in Seine-Saint-Denis.
We will sometimes spend hours in surveillance, for in the end little quantity seized, a drop of water compared to the extent of the traffic.
A policeman from Seine-Saint-Denisat franceinfo
He underlines all the same that certain field groups succeeded in flushing out larger quantities – of the order of a few kilos -, “but it remains exceptional”. Because the sellers manage to have very few drugs on them. They call on “rechargers”, according to the industry jargon, who come to supply them, “but always in small quantities, to risk only light penalties” if they get caught.
Another problem: “The guys from the narcotics points know us by heart”, which undermines the surprise effect, explains the young policeman. Not to mention that this time spent on the backs of traffickers prevents them from being available for the rest of their missions. “If we have a call for a rape victim or for a snatching that has just been committed, the staff are not immediately available and we miss an important case, with a direct physical victim”, he illustrates.
A penal response that is debating
The frustration is all the greater among the police because the penalties imposed on traffickers sometimes seem to them too light, even derisory. But the disparities are strong from one territory to another. “There are very big inequalities between the regions and the jurisdiction of the courts, depending on the flows to be managed”, Dominique Duprez, emeritus research director at the CNRS, specialist in issues related to drug trafficking. “In the Manche, your chances of being prosecuted for simple possession of drugs are relatively high, while in Seine-Saint-Denis, the probability is much lower”also observes Mathieu Zagrodzki.
Jean-Baptiste Perrier, professor of private law and criminal sciences at Aix-Marseille University, nevertheless notes a “great severity” with regard to the penalties incurred in France in terms of drug trafficking. For the simple fact of possessing narcotics, the Penal Code provides for a maximum of ten years imprisonment. “In Marseille, it is not uncommon for traffickers to be sentenced to three or four years”he specifies, even if the lookouts, who are often minors – “sometimes around 13 or 14 years old” – do not incur the same penalties.
To crack down more quickly, the immediate appearance “increased in all courts”, says the lawyer. It mainly concerns petty traffickers. But the criminal response concerning them “is sometimes discouraging”slips a magistrate responsible until recently for immediate appearances in a court in the Paris region. “They are often given less than a year [de prison], especially in heavily trafficked areas. And the problem is that their sentence is necessarily adjustable. It is then necessary to choose between an electronic bracelet, giving free rein to the dealer to continue his traffic, or the placement in quarter of semi-freedom, which also allows him to spend time outside. “It’s not a deterrent”, regrets the magistrate, stressing that the other traffickers “assess the risks actually incurred in the light of this response”. The problem of prison overcrowding makes it necessary to take certain “unconscious decisions”recognizes the magistrate, who, to choose, prefers to send to prison “a violent robber rather than a narcotics trafficker”.
“Small hands change but big families stay”
Even though some traffickers end up being imprisoned, traffic recovers “in a few days or even in a few hours”, blows Mathieu Zagrodzki. The conclusion is unanimous: the networks are reconstituted very quickly, such “a many-headed hydra”assures Jean-Baptiste Perrier. “We can cut one, even the good one, others will take its place and the whole circuit gets back on the road immediately”.
“I work with police officers who have been in the field for 20 years. They have never seen the traffic fade. The small hands change but the big families remain.”
A policeman from Seine-Saint-Denisat franceinfo
The candidates are very numerous because the traffic is extremely profitable. According to estimates by experts interviewed by franceinfo, the salary of a watchman is around 80 euros per day, 150 euros for a salesperson, and 5,000 euros monthly for a manager. “It takes a lot of moral strength in the neighborhoods to resist the call of traffic”, slips the magistrate we interviewed.
Authorities are also trying to target the traffic at its source. This is all the work of Ofast (Anti-Narcotics Office), a national body which brings together gendarmes, police officers but also customs officers and magistrates, enjoying a “excellent reputation”, argues Jean-Baptiste Perrier. But the quantified objectives of the Ministry of the Interior mean that “short-term work, in the field, is more preferred”, deplores Kim Reuflet, president of the Syndicate of the magistrature, classified on the left. Because going back to the head of a network, “it takes time and it does not show”. Or, “the dismantling of deal points tends to harm investigations”she believes, because “by silencing the people who gave the information, it reduces the chances of dismantling a network.”
Fixed fines largely unpaid
In addition to targeting sectors, Gérald Darmanin has expanded the arsenal of police officers, who can since 2020 distribute fixed tort fines (AFD) of 200 euros to drug users. This new tool was designed in particular to unclog the courts. “It’s more dissuasive, because before, consumers had to be brought to the police station, you had to write a procedure, and they came out with a simple reminder of the law. Now, the sanction is immediate”approves Captain Jaunatre.
Between September 2020 and September 2021, of almost 100,000 fines, only 27,360 were “fully paid”according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior communicated to the Monde (paid item). The majority of people fined manage to escape the fines. A young consumer from Roubaix (Nord) thus entrusted the France 2 teams at the start of 2022 to accumulate “about 1,250 euros in fines” not paid. “Between the guy who is not solvent and the one who has no papers, it’s more a waste of time than anything else… The AFD is really to boost the figures of the Ministry of the Interior “retorts the Seine-Saint-Denis policeman.
Not to mention their “discriminatory effects”adds Sarah Massoud, judge of freedoms and detention in Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis). “Most of these fines are imposed on young people from sensitive neighborhoods, already in financial difficulty. The little sores who smoke their firecrackers in the beautiful districts of Paris escape them”says this member of the Syndicate of the judiciary.
Lack of will to legalize on the part of the government
Above all: the desired effect is not there, since consumption is not weakening. France remains the country where the most cannabis is consumed in Europe, according to the latest drug report (document PDF) of the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction. As for the consumption of cocaine, it is in sharp rise in ten yearssaid Public Health France.
Faced with the failure of repressive policies, voices are being raised in favor of decriminalization – as is the case in Portugal – or legalization – a path that Germany is taking. A fact-finding mission led by majority MP Caroline Janvier proposed in early 2021 opt for the second option, that of a “framed legalization, which allows the State to regain control of the production, consumption, distribution of cannabis, by controlling the substances that are sold”. More recently, in January, the Economic and Social Council emitted the same recommendation.
Mathieu Zagrodzki, author in 2020 of a report on the subjectardently defends the legalization, “Only solution” according to him “to dry up traffic”. “The police and the judiciary are not solving either the security problem or the health problem linked to the sale of narcotics. All the actors are exhausted, with the common feeling of having to empty the ocean with a teaspoon”, defends the researcher.
Emmanuel Macron himself had come out in favor of legalization during his first presidential campaign, arguing in 2016 on France Inter that he saw there “a form of efficiency”. He then drastically changed his tune, ensuring in March 2022, in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), then in the midst of a battle for his re-election, not to be there “favorable”.
1681983149
#fight #drug #trafficking #government #priority #police #judiciary #feel #powerless