From his bar in downtown Mende, Philippe directly observes the police station and expresses his concern faced with a potential closure:“It is a service we need. No, I think it would be a very bad thing to close the police station.” For him, the proximity of this police station is crucial to preserving serenity in the city. An observation shared by Florence, manager of a neighboring jewelry store: “It helps ensure security in the city center. Especially for a jewelry store, It’s essential.”.
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The report recently published by the Court of Auditors, which takes up certain recommendations from the 2020 White Paper on internal security, relaunches the debate on the distribution of areas of competence between National Police and Gendarmerie in Lozère. The 2020 White Paper proposed granting municipalities with less than 30,000 inhabitants the exclusive jurisdiction of the gendarmerie and reserving police in towns with more than 40,000 inhabitants. Although this proposal was rejected in 2022 by the Minister of the Interior, the report from the Court of Auditors brings this subject back to the forefront by pointing out the imbalance between police numbers in Lozère and the level of delinquency.
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Lozère displays one of the lowest delinquency rates in France (26.1 acts per 1,000 inhabitants in 2022) and benefits from a ratio of agents (4.2 police officers and gendarmes per 1,000 inhabitants) higher than that of the Rhône, yet five times more affected by criminal acts. According to the Court of Auditors, maintaining a National Police district in Mende mobilizes disproportionate numbers in relation to territorial security issues.
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-But if delinquency remains low in Lozère, it is no coincidence, explains Stéphane Cellier, departmental secretary of Alliance Police Nationale: “it must be emphasized that we observe a significant drop in delinquency where personnel are deployed. This is true throughout the national territory: “police presence reduces criminal acts”.
The possible closure of the Mende police station, the only national police structure in Lozère, represents a very bad signal for rural departments, deplores Stéphane Cellier, departmental secretary of Alliance Police Nationale: “rural citizens deserve as much as others to live in complete safety.
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In a letter addressed to the senator for Lozère and the deputy for Lozère, Stéphane Cellier, departmental secretary of Alliance Police Nationale, calls for questioning the Minister of the Interior and the Prefect of Lozère on the future of the DDPN . He underlines the attachment of the local population to the National Police and warns against the emergence of “safe deserts” in already fragile territories.
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