On December 10, 2024, in a town in Central Brittany, in the Côtes d'Armor (for safety for the actors, we will not give the name), a woman and her disabled daughter experienced a frightening evening. . Threatened by four alcoholic individuals, including the woman's ex-companion, they had to barricade themselves in their house to escape a potential attack, waiting 1h30 for the arrival of… 2 Gendarmes. This incident highlights the alarming flaws in the security system in rural areas and raises questions about the management of domestic violence, although it has been announced as a national priority.
An immediate threat, a delayed response
It was 7:16 p.m. when the alert was given. A neighbor, who witnessed the events, called the gendarmerie to report the critical situation: four men surrounded the house, one of them even having entered the garden. The woman and her daughter, terrified, remain barricaded, narrowly avoiding a physical confrontation even though they are clearly threatened.
But instead of reaching the local brigade, the call was redirected to Saint-Brieuc, nearly 55 minutes from the scene of the incident. The minutes pass. Second call, then a third. The attackers ended up leaving the scene in a car and in a hurry, and a neighbor called the National Gendarmerie a fourth time. It was only after a fifth call and a delay of 1.5 hours that two police officers…. from Pontrieux, located approximately 50 minutes’ drive from the victim’s home, arrive on site.
The arrival of the police does little to reassure. Their advice? Stay barricaded for the night and go to the local brigade the next day to file a complaint, as it is closed at night. This recommendation left the victim and his neighbors with a deep feeling of abandonment. At the same time, the incident highlights a shared departmental gendarmerie system, where personnel are distributed over large geographical areas, making any rapid intervention illusory.. That evening, part of the forces were mobilized for the Guingamp-PSV Eindhoven match, leaving other sectors devoid of ANY protection.
Legal helplessness in the face of the threat
Faced with this situation, a neighboring sports shooter asked the police a very meaningful question: if he had used his firearm to defend the victim against these alcoholic and threatening individuals, would he have been prosecuted? The response from law enforcement is unequivocal: such an act would have been considered outside the law, exposing the shooter to legal prosecution. A response which raises questions about the means left to citizens to defend themselves in situations where the police take a considerable time to intervene.
This incident illustrates a recurring problem in rural areas: the slowness of gendarmerie interventions, exacerbated by understaffed local brigades and priorities often disconnected from local realities. In 1h30, a tragedy could have occurred: physical violence, even murder. However, this critical situation did not seem to mobilize the necessary resources.
Domestic violence, regularly declared a priority by the authorities, struggles to be treated with the urgency it deserves. For citizens, the situation is bitter: security is no longer guaranteed and any attempt at self-defense is heavily punished.
While rural residents feel increasingly isolated in the face of immediate threats, this incident highlights the urgency of reform of the gendarmerie system in rural areas. The pooling of forces, far from resolving the problems, seems to worsen response times, endangering lives.
The question is simple: How much longer will the inhabitants of these areas have to live in fear, for lack of a system capable of responding effectively to their calls for help? When the security of citizens is no longer ensured by the State, then the contract which binds them to it is broken, and they regain their total freedom.
Illustration : DR
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