On the occasion of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which will be held respectively in Châteauroux from July 27 to August 5 and from August 30 to September 5, 2024, the police and the gendarmerie carried out a “decompartmentalization of our usual work areas, explains Édouard Malis, commissioner at Châteauroux. This means that we will have to work in areas that are not ours. The gendarmes, for example, are responsible for the internal security of the National Shooting Sports Center (CNTS), which is nevertheless located, in part, in our area. We, for our part, will be in charge of official travelers who will go to the Olympic Games site. This will be a mission carried out exclusively by the national police”.
A total of ten bikers
By official traveler, we mean the authorities, presidential or ministerial, whose arrival will require an escort. “Our mission will be to support these travelers from their arrival in the urban area, namely the motorway exit, the train station or the airport, to the CNTS, where they will be taken care of. Some personalities might also want to go to Blaise-Pascal high school, where athletes will stay. For this, we will receive crews of motorcycles, which will bring our total strength to ten motorcycles, which will allow us several escorts at the same time, if this proves necessary. A car escort will also be present, each time, led by myself or my assistant. »
Among the personalities who could go to Indre this summer, in addition to French ministers, there are members of the Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop), such as Prince Albert of Monaco, or ministers from countries sensitive, like Israel, for example. There, of course, the device would be suitable. “Some personalities have their own security service, called a close bubble. We normally constitute the enlarged bubble. But if necessary, we can also provide close protection. To date, we have no information on this subject, nor any details on the personalities in question. »
Recognition exercises
To succeed in these missions, the national police force of course recited their lines, via reconnaissance exercises: “We have identified the routes, yes, and we know that we will be under the eye of video protection, which must be taken into account. »
But while waiting for the start of the Games, and therefore, of these escort missions, which will be added to the traditional ones of protecting the city as a whole, the Châteauroux police officers will have a lot to do during the passage of the flame, Monday May 27. “There will be reinforcements for the occasion, indeed,” comments Édouard Malis. If the smooth running of the Games is indeed an obsession for the local authorities, that of passing the flame through the department in general and in Châteauroux in particular is at the heart of all concerns. For law enforcement, this will be a first-rate baptism of fire.
