The “prefect’s tour” on December 31 is a tradition which helps to say thank you out loud to the guardians of New Year’s night – firefighters, gendarmes, police officers – who, again and again, ensure the safety of Haut- Marnais. Enough to jointly remind the population that the commitment of some benefits the daily life of all.
“On December 31 in particular, a lot of people long to be somewhere else.” Prefect Régine Pam begins her “tour” on December 31 with the CTA-Codis, where Colonel Jean-François Fortier, number two of Sdis 52, welcomes her, with the firefighters mobilized on the plateau and the guard of the center Chaumont emergency service. Alongside the state representative, the mayor of Chaumont Christine Guillemy and the 1is City Deputy Paul Fournié are present.
The prefect comes to greet the troops who she knows are typically in greater demand on New Year's Eve, and who will have to deal with reduced availability of beds in the hospital, due to the flu epidemic peak. This evening, the evening started badly, says Régine Pam – with an intervention after a defenestration.
This 31st is the “first New Year’s Eve” in Haute-Marne for the deputy departmental director of Sdis 52, Colonel Fortier.
“We are at home”: Régine Pam insists on reducing protocol usage. The mayor of Chaumont underlines the difference between the atmosphere “outside”, which abandons itself to “carelessness”, and the concentration of firefighters, ready to help immediately. Christine Guillemy notes that unjustified calls to CTA-Codis are becoming more and more numerous.
On the Samu side of the plateau, Dr. Laurence Hatt does not hide the fact that it will be necessary to “prick the mule of Saint-Dizier” because that of the emergency doctors of the city-prefecture is broken down, knowing that the main vehicle has been expected “for a year “.
130 gendarmes all night
Second stage of the “prefect’s tour” at the Departmental Gendarmerie Group (GGD 52), where her boss Colonel Rémy Nollet discusses the progressive – and begun – installation of new digital equipment. On “new screens”, patrols and gendarmes are geolocated. Once again, the installation is in progress, but the use of the tool is promising. There would really be a need to be able to purchase the license for new software, which would allow images taken from a helicopter to be retrieved live on said screens.
This night, 130 gendarmes are mobilized, including 80 solely for road safety operations; the other 50 soldiers respond to alerts received by the 17th and carry out patrols. The military deters and represses, of course, but they work together to prevent – on December 31, the outbreak of excess violence for example.
Rave parties are currently underway in neighboring departments – Aube, Haute-Saône and Yonne.
The prefect recalls that a gendarme from GGD 52 has already joined Mayotte, two others will also be sent, indicates Colonel Nollet.
The mayor of Chaumont welcomes the “good intelligence” in which the gendarmes and police officers – the city is a “police zone” – worked. Christine Guillemy points out the new aspiration of citizens to “see uniforms”, and keeps in mind the desire of security forces to see video surveillance cameras installed at city entrances.
“Rurality is also team spirit”
Third and final stage of the “prefect’s tour” at the Chaumont police station. There too, Régine Pam salutes the police officers' “perm' of 31st”, “while one could dream of doing something else with one's life” that same evening.
“We have the positions, we have to make them attractive.” Yes, the police are not at full strength. However, if “Chaumont appears to be a calm town”, its chief magistrate says it clearly: today, there are few police officers there. Security deputy Thierry Alonso, who also went to the police station, discusses the agreement with the new municipal police: an “unofficial” version was sent to the national police for study.
Régine Pam once again welcomes the “coordination” between gendarmes and police officers, adding: “rurality is also team spirit”.
At each stage of this “tour du 31”, the prefect presented a basket of homemade products made by chef Jérôme from the prefecture.
Fabienne Ausserre
A quiet night
Ce 1is January 2025 can be pleased that no serious accident has been reported. In total, the gendarmes noted 3 driving under the influence of alcohol and one under the influence of narcotics.
