in Charente-Maritime, the gendarmes draw out “Blue Routes” operations

These “Blue Routes”, the new commander of the Charente-Maritime gendarmerie group claims them as “an innovation of the department”. Colonel Johann Gojkovic-Lette already intends to perpetuate this concept of mixed control, “both an administrative police operation and the fight against road insecurity and a judicial police operation targeting criminal flows. At the request of the prosecutor of the Saintes judicial court, we were authorized to open the trunks, search the vehicles, as part of a search for weapons, objects resulting from theft or concealment of theft, or narcotics. »

Bikers, Alpine Interceptor

The “Blue Routes” operation in Saujon required the mobilization of around sixty gendarmes, soldiers from the territorial brigades of Saintes and Saujon, and six bikers, from Jonzac, Marennes, La Rochelle and Saintes. Some motorists who were in a greater hurry than the average even met one of the pilots of the rapid interception Alpine from the departmental road safety squadron, called upon around ten times this Friday, November 15. To withdraw his license, in particular, from a driver traveling at 139 km/h, while the speed is limited to 90 km/h on the RN 150 in Saujon, in the direction of Saintes-Royan.

“The gendarmerie occupies the land, as close as possible to the inhabitants”

In Surgères, in the early evening of October 2, the first of the “Blue Routes” imagined by Colonel Gojkovic-Lette, the gendarmes on the ground had aerial resources, a drone and a helicopter. “The drone was particularly useful to us, especially when we were faced with a refusal to comply. Our men on the ground can be guided from the air and avoid taking risks and putting other users at risk. » In Saujon, no helicopter, ultimately, held back at the last moment.

Renewed every month

The commander of the Charente-Maritime gendarmerie group is banking on these substantial human and technical resources. “We gain efficiency by taking into account all the key points. In Saujon, we installed controls for three hours at nine intersections on important transit routes. During these three hours, almost all motorists entering or leaving passed through these checkpoints. Thousands of people will have seen us. This is also the message of the “Blue Routes”: the gendarmerie occupies the land, as close as possible to the inhabitants. »