Arthur De Laborde // Photo credit: Nicolas Guyonnet / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
Drug trafficking is plaguing more and more neighborhoods in France. And while the State is trying to fully commit itself against the phenomenon, in the municipalities, mayors are also on the front line. But some are tempted not to act, for fear of reprisals or out of a desire to preserve the restored order.
Drug trafficking continues in Marseille despite the “XXL square net” operation, launched before Emmanuel Macron’s visit there on Tuesday. The seizures are relatively meager compared to the scale of the phenomenon and the resources involved. But, beyond large cities like Marseille, drug trafficking is increasingly affecting small or medium-sized towns. And in some cases, mayors have no real interest in fully committing to the fight against drug dealers.
And if fighting against drug trafficking does not fall directly within the work of local elected officials, who above all have a role of prevention and support, in fact, the partnership between mayors and the police can enable a fight more effective against dealers and networks.
“The dealers pacify the neighborhood”
But not everyone necessarily has an interest in playing the game. “Certain elected officials who can say: ‘I don’t get involved’ perhaps out of fear, out of fear, out of complacency”, insists the former socialist mayor by Sarcelles François Pupponi, at the microphone of Europe 1. “But we must understand that drug dealers often pacify the neighborhood, ensure order reigns in the neighborhood because the business must continue. And therefore because it there is less acquisitive delinquency which disrupts the neighborhood… the mayors in certain cases do not want to get involved,” he continues.
Some cases may also have highlighted lasting links established through persuasion or corruption between criminal groups and mayors. The anti-narcotics office has also warned in the past of the threat of “infiltration of the political environment, particularly at the local level”.