the arrival of the new gendarmerie brigades is becoming clearer

The information does not date from yesterday but a little over a year after the official announcement by the Head of State of the creation of new gendarmerie brigades, including three in Indre-et-Loire, the timetable has been specified during the Sainte-Geneviève ceremony of the Indre-et-Loire departmental group in Loches, Friday November 29, 2024.

The Azay-sur-Cher mobile brigade, operational from 2025?

Prefect Thomas Campeaux, for whom this was his first outing outside Tours since taking official office at the beginning of the week, indicated during his speech, alongside Colonel Thibaud Friedling, commander of the departmental gendarmerie group, and the mayor of Loches, Marc Angenault, that these three new brigades: two mobile units in Beaumont-Louestault and Azay-sur-Cher and one fixed, with public reception, in Manthelan “will open by 2027”.

Asked about this on the sidelines of the ceremony, Colonel Friedling clarified that “the Azay-sur-Cher mobile brigade will have an environmental theme, and to a lesser extent heritage, particularly given the recent thefts and damage to religious buildings in the department. » This brigade could open from the first half of 2025, provided that the green light is still given since the file is currently in the hands of the Ministry of the Interior.

Things are stuck for barracks rents

Rather positive news for the group which collides with another, less encouraging one: the cessation of payment of rent for several gendarmerie barracks in the department following a decision by the Ministry of the Interior.

“We have in fact stopped the payment of rent since September to the communities which host our premises. For four of them, which we targeted as financially fragile, an emergency payment was made in consultation with the Prefecture and the departmental public finance services”said Colonel Friedling.

This phenomenon is not specific to Indre-et-Loire but at the national level, as revealed by our colleagues from France Bluelast October. The funds allocated to the national gendarmerie have temporarily been exhausted due to expenses incurred for the Olympic Games and the crisis in New Caledonia, in particular. The Ministry of the Interior has assured that rents will be paid late, pending the opening of new credits in December 2024.