This bill, carried by Gérald Darmanin, is examined Tuesday by the Senate. It aims to strengthen the resources and personnel of law enforcement agencies.
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Lhe orientation and programming bill of the Ministry of the Interior (Lopmi), examined from Tuesday, October 11 by senators, gives “new human, legal, budgetary and material resources” to Place Beauvau. This text provides over five years, from 2023 to 2027, 15 billion euros in additional credits for the ministry, compared to the credits allocated in 2022. The 2023 budget is already expected to increase sharply (+ 6%), to 22 billion euros. The measures that will make it possible to finance these additional appropriations are detailed in a report appended to the bill.
Another strong measure of this bill, 8,500 positions will be created over the five-year term, divided between the national police (52%) and the gendarmerie (48%). The majority of these additional staff will be assigned during the first two years, to meet the security challenges of the Rugby World Cup (2023) and the Olympic and Paralympic Games (2024). Eleven new mobile force units “specialized in rapid intervention to put an end to violent clashes” will be created. To ensure security in rural areas, 200 gendarmerie brigades will also be deployed.
Sparking a digital revolution
Nearly half of the resources are dedicated to the ministry’s digital transformation. A “cyber 17”, the digital equivalent of “calling 17” will be set up to be able to report an attack live. One thousand five hundred new cyber patrollers will be trained and deployed. To fight cybercrime more effectively, judicial police officers may, with the authorization of the public prosecutor or the investigating judge, seize digital assets (cryptocurrencies, for example), as is already the case for banking. The text frames the conditions for reimbursement of ransomware by insurance companies, making it conditional on the filing of a complaint by the victim. In 2020, one in five businesses said they had experienced at least one ransomware attack during the year, according to the ministry.
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A security force digital agency will also be created. Security and rescue forces will be “augmented” with innovative equipment such as pedestrian cameras, on-board cameras and even smart textiles. A new communications network for security and emergency services, “Future Radio Network”, will be set up. This very high-speed communication system will be “multimedia, interoperable, priority, resilient and secure”. The government wanted the power to legislate by ordinance, but the senators want these provisions to be written directly into law.
Increased investigative capacities and combating intra-family violence
With this law, all new police officers and gendarmes will be trained as judicial police officers (OPJ). Some 5,500 posts of “investigation assistants” or “police clerks” will be created to support investigators in procedural formalities.
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The number of investigators dedicated to the fight against domestic violence will be doubled to four thousand in five years. The penalty for sexist contempt will be increased, “aggravated sexist contempt” becoming an offense punishable by a fine of 3,750 euros.
In addition, the senators amended the text in committee to more severely punish the refusal to comply by a driver. The penalty incurred would increase from two to three years’ imprisonment and the amount of the fine to 30,000 euros. Urban rodeos “which would expose others to the risk of death” or serious injury would be punished by five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros (compared to one year in prison and 15,000 euros excluding aggravating circumstances). Finally, the penalties incurred in the event of an attack on an elected representative would be aligned with those provided for attacks against the security forces.
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Simplify the criminal procedure
The government wanted to generalize the tort fixed fine (AFD) to all offenses punishable by less than one year in prison. In committee, the senators limited its expansion to a dozen new offenses such as tags, the offense of obstructing traffic or the unjustified use of the alarm signal in trains.
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The Lopmi also includes a series of provisions to simplify the criminal procedure. Special investigative techniques and the use of prolonged custody will be extended to cases of serial homicides and rapes, as well as sectarian acts. It entrusts the prefects with the management of all the State’s public services and establishments in the event of a serious crisis.