By Jean-Michel Desplos
The departmental director of public security of the Gironde and the commissioner, boss of the west division, were heard this Tuesday morning in Paris by the disciplinary council in the Chahinez case, burned alive by her husband last May. A brigadier was in Bordeaux
This Tuesday afternoon, two police commanders stationed last May in the west division of Bordeaux, are heard by the members of the disciplinary council meeting in Paris to discuss the shortcomings and errors noted by the General Inspectorate of national police (IGPN) in the Mérignac feminicide case in May 2021. They appear by videoconference assisted by their union representatives.
This Tuesday morning, still in Paris, the departmental director of public security of the Gironde, the divisional commissioner Martin Levrel and the commissioner, head of the west division stationed in Mérignac, spoke at length before this same disciplinary council, also supported by their union. At the end of the discussions, a warning was proposed against the DDSP and three days of temporary suspension of functions against the Commissioner of Mérignac. It is now up to the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, to validate or not these sanctions. “We are on the first group’s proposals for sanctions which were voted unanimously by the administration and by the staff representatives,” specifies Jean-Paul Megret, national secretary of the Independent Union of Police Commissioners (SICP). They are very similar to what the IGPN initially proposed. For the DDSP, we realized that the multidisciplinary inspection commission had forgotten to interview him. It was therefore difficult for him to convey information to them when he did not meet them. We hope common sense will return. There are important issues in the Bordeaux region as everywhere in France concerning the treatment of domestic violence. There is a real difficulty for the officials to whom they have said more and more that it is an obligation of result and not of means ”.
A guard struck off the service
For the record, Chahinez Daoud was killed on May 4 by her husband Mounir Boutaa, from whom she was separated. The latter first shot her with a weapon before burning her alive in the middle of the street. It was the 39e feminicide of the year 2021.
The report of the General Inspectorate of the National Police, the Police of the Police, firstly notes that the complaint of Chahinez Daoud was poorly received in March by a peacekeeper who we will learn during the was that he himself was recently sentenced to an eight-month suspended probationary sentence with deprivation of his civil rights for one year for domestic violence. He has since been struck off the national police.
The conviction of this official revealed by “Le Canard enchaîné” had “a particularly damaging repercussion for the credit and the reputation of the institutions” and highlighted “the dysfunctions of the western division of the DDSP of the Gironde”, points out the IGPN report.
Mutations
This Tuesday morning, two brigadiers were to be auditioned in Bordeaux. Only one could be because the second is currently on sick leave. Faced with the prefect delegate for security and the directors of various national police services, he defended himself bitterly because he only had the file “in second hand and was not trained for domestic violence” , reports Eric Marrocq, regional secretary of the Alliance Police Nationale union for the southwest area. He was offered a sanction from the first group which could correspond to a warning. “It should be remembered that in this dramatic affair, a person died and we regret it,” continues the trade unionist. But our colleagues could not act as lighters in this case. “
The consequences on the morale of the troops are terrible ”
For Philippe Rolland, Nouvelle-Aquitaine regional secretary of the SGP Police Unit union, “it was not useful to convene a disciplinary council to discuss the case of this brigadier. The sanction could have been notified to him by his head of department ”.
Unmistakably, the Mérignac feminicide case will leave traces in the large house of the national police in Bordeaux. “This procedure could have taken place in any constituency in France,” notes an experienced civil servant. “The consequences for the morale of the troops are terrible. Today, we need officials and it is still the police. “
In this context, it is very likely that changes, apart from sanctions, will take place soon. The commissioner of Mérignac could be appointed deputy departmental director in Charente-Maritime and the DDSP of Gironde Martin Levrel could join the unit set up as part of the preparation for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.