Adaptation of criminal networks, cases pending for several years, starving IGPN staff… In a report made public this Sunday, October 20, the financial magistrates highlight the errors of the strategy deployed by the police in the second largest city in France.
An observation far removed from the speeches of the Macronist power. In a report devoted to the Marseille police, the Court of Auditors had the delicate ambition of evaluating its «organisation», on “partnership coordination”, ses “results” et “the evolution [de ses] strategic priorities”. In France’s second city, where more than one in four residents lives below the poverty line, the national police had more than 4,000 agents at the end of 2023. To respond to “the security, social and health emergency”, the President of the Republic had promised significant state investments in September 2021, by launching the “Marseille en grand” plan. Since that date, far from having retreated, drug trafficking, which plagues the economy and the lives of residents, has never seemed so sprawling. Last year, the judicial authority counted 49 homicides linked to drug trafficking in the city. In its report, made public this Sunday, October 20, the Court of Auditors praises the police efforts but joins the worrying analyzes regarding the capacity of the authorities to deal with the permeation of organized crime in the city.
The money promised by the executive was to make it possible to assign 300 additional police officers to Marseille. “In total, if we only count the personnel assigned to the police districts, we have around 180 fewer agents compared to 2016,” noted Christian Charpy, magistrate at the Court of Auditors, during an organized exchange with the press. In recent years, police officers have been sent to Marseille after their initial training, but at the same time, the police have experienced numerous departures. The Ministry of the Interior has managed to maintain the level of personnel with the installation on site of three republican security companies (CRS), whose mission is to work everywhere in France.
The Court of Auditors also underlines that many young police officers choose to leave very quickly after their arrival in Marseille, “which suggests an employment pattern which risks deteriorating again from this year 2024”. The financial magistrates propose to create a “loyalty compensation” for police officers working for more than five years in police stations located in the least attractive neighborhoods.
Abandoned “everyday” offenses
The financial jurisdiction has also noted a concentration – even an obsession – of police work on drug-related offenses: 35,000 fixed fines for drug use have, for example, been issued since 2020. Two main strategies were observed by the Court accounts: the first consists of establishing CRS or mobile gendarmes in a neighborhood for several weeks, the second involves “shelling” punctual deal points. According to the assessment of the Court of Auditors, the “Net Place” operations combine the two approaches, but their effectiveness is far from certain. L’“lasting effect is difficult to assess” and this strategy “sometimes only leads to moving the deal points, whose opening hours adapt to this hidden police presence.”
The financial magistrates take up observations already made on this subject by field workers and specialists in these issues: “The activity of the networks is constantly adapting: development of home delivery, consolidation of sales in certain cities where the intervention of the police remains dangerous, recourse to the extra-Marseille workforce (unaccompanied minors and foreigners in an irregular situation, in particular).»
This police focus on drug-related offenses has consequences. According to the report of the Court of Auditors, several so-called offenses “everyday” are neglected. At the end of 2023, more than 91,000 files were open at Marseille public security, nearly a third of which had been open for at least three years. “The high and growing number of procedures in the services reflects the deprioritization of other areas of delinquency, particularly economic and financial,” note the financial magistrates. Moreover, “the indicators relating to the service provided in police stations in Marseille are below national performances” et “pedestrian patrol hours have decreased.”
The Court of Auditors also notes in its report a situation of “understaffed” particularly problematic for the Marseille delegation of the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN). “It is in fact at around 40% of its target workforce”, or 5.5 agents out of 14. “Given the risks of corruption faced by police officers in Marseille, the need to have a very present General Inspectorate of the National Police is essential,” comments Christian Charpy. The institution urges the authorities to find “ways to strengthen attractiveness” of this service. According to an internal source contacted by Liberation, the situation has improved slightly since the work of the Court of Auditors, increasing to 8 agents out of 14.
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