Fewer security forces are also more exposed

Brice Hortefeux has made crime figures an such issue on its credibility at the head of the Ministry of the Interior that the announcement this morning, the security balance in 2010 was carefully prepared. Originally scheduled for Monday, the press conference has been extended to this morning because of the events in Tunisia last weekend.

In General, delinquency again marks the step this year with a decrease of 2.1. But this figure, if it has the merit of simplicity, is not helpful to interpret the facts since it aggregates very heterogeneous data.

Police staff in sharp decline

In retail, property violations continue to decline (-1.9), but violence people are an persistent increase: 2.5 in 2010, especially in Ile-de-France. A ground for concern legitimate for the Government since it was the most serious forms of crime to victims. This increase is mainly due to the significant increase of entering violence ( 5, committed to obtaining a profit). In 2009, the violence had already increased 2.8 from 2008. Burglary, on the strong rise in 2009, continued them also to increase in 2010 ( 1.1). Interviewed in the columns of the "Figaro" today, Brice Hortefeux is measured when he comments on these results: "For the eighth consecutive year, insecurity back ...." This does not mean that everything is settled. "I keep me from any triumphalism".

"The only balance of Brice Hortefeux, is the failure in the service of a policy without compass", slice Jean-Jacques Urvoas, Member for the département of Finistère in charge of security at the PS, who denounces a control policy figures of delinquency, which he sees the illustration in the refusal, this year, to disclose the number of cars burned during the night of the Saint-Sylvestre.

Without prejudice to the intentions of the Executive, these figures reflect a rather disappointing record, given the emphasis placed by the Government on the subject. But they must also be considered in a context of sharp decline in police numbers. With nearly 2,000 guardians of peace and less and a deficit of 900 gendarmes on a year, the results could have been much more concern. Because the maintenance of security is one of labour. Nothing replaces the presence of officers in the field. The Minister keeps repeating, him who planned to continue in 2011, one of the major projects started last year: shed the "undue tasks" police, such as the transfer of the prisoners or the police of the hearings. However, these transfers are far from compensating staff cuts.

Fewer, security forces are also more exposed. In 2010, according to AFP, 11.126 police and gendarmes were injured and 19 killed. To counter this type of violence, the Government has chosen to legislate. The so-called Loppsi II, yesterday passed second reading in the Senate, Act to punish premeditated murders of representatives of public authority by a sentence of 30 years or life imprisonment incompressible security. Several provisions, including the safest pane added after the speech of the head of State in Grenoble this summer, have been amended in the Senate to mitigate the scope. The joint mixed commission to adjudicate disputes between deputies and senators will take place Wednesday.