The Colonel Casso, commander of the Gard gendarmerie groupwas the guest of France Bleu Gard Lozère, this Monday, November 25, on the occasion of the International day against violence against women.
“For 5 years, there have been more and more victims coming through the doors of gendarmerie brigades or police stations to file complaints.“, recalls Colonel Casso in the preamble, proof of a improving the reception of victims. “We have made a lot of effort to train the gendarmes to welcome the victims, to offer them a healthy, preserved place, away from other complainants, to hear them in good conditions. There is also progress that has been made in the hearings to try to best support these victims in the first step of this criminal process which can frighten them..”
Holes in the racket?
The fact remains that there can always be holes in the racket: example with Laurence's exclusive testimonya 44-year-old Gardoise, who spoke to France Bleu Gard Lozère. She had to push open the doors of a police station three times until actually succeeding in filing a complaint. The first time “I was greeted by someone who was huffing and who said: OK, I'm still going to take your name from the spiral notebook. He was talking about something else with the friend who accompanied me. I understood that I had no value.”
“I am completely sorry for Laurence and I would like to apologize on behalf of the gendarmerie and the gendarmes who should have received her correctly, of course“reacts Colonel Casso. “We try to ensure that this doesn't happen, we even have mystery shoppers to check that our welcome lives up to what is expected. It is organized by the General Inspectorate of the Gendarmerie, they are gendarmes in plain clothes, we are not warned in advance. They present themselves in the units with a situation to present to the brigade in order to see how the gendarme reacts, if the reception is well done, etc..”
In the Gard, a certain amount of violent behavior
When the Colonel is asked if he noted some delinquencybehaviors specific to Gard, he answers: “what is striking is a certain violent behavior: a very significant number of attacks on people. Lots of domestic violence, domestic violence on the rise. We also notice fights, and not just in summer, which require our full attention.”
The road is a special case. “Every day, we arrest drivers. Since the start of the year, there have been 47 fatal accidents in our department in the gendarmerie zone, which is 7 more than last year. We are multiplying the checks, we are holding up to 10 licenses per day. We see around 20 cell phone uses per day, that's roughly one per hour..” And that's without counting the times when the police are not there to note the offense. Speed, like the consumption of alcohol or drugs, represents one in four fatal accidents.
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