Gendarmerie

• OPPSCIENCE, the French pioneer in the field of Intelligence Analysis Management (IAM), is announcing the launch of the latest version of its solution dedicated to law enforcement: SPECTRA 2.2.0, showcased exclusively at Milipol Paris 2023.
• View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231114814045/en/
  OPPSCIENCE Unveils SPECTRA 2.2.0 at Milipol Paris 2023: A Major Breakthrough in Intelligence Analysis Management (IAM) Technologies for Law Enforcement (Photo: Business Wire)
  As a subsidiary of the IDEMIA group, OPPSCIENCE positions itself as a French leader in the realms of Big Data and artificial intelligence.
• In a continuous improvement initiative, OPPSCIENCE launches SPECTRA FORCE, a community of experts dedicated to technological trends, innovations, regulations, and challenges in law enforcement.
• This initiative aims to support law enforcement by providing tailored and effective solutions and will be officially inaugurated at Milipol Paris 2023.

• This was also seen during the 2010s, particularly during the “gilets jaunes” movement.
• The aim of this seems to be preventing protests, rather than facilitating their smooth running.

A failing change in doctrine

• Since the replacement of Didier Lallement by Laurent Nuñez as Paris’ police commissioner, there has been a preference for a different approach to managing protests in Paris.
• Police and gendarmes no longer flank protesters at close quarters but now place themselves at a distance in adjacent streets.
• And unions and their security forces oversee the organisation of protests, in concert with officials and forces of law and order.

Interrogative police squads and legal mechanisms

• Criticisms have mostly focused on the activity of BRAV-M, a police unit created in 2019 to crack down on the unpredictable and unruly marches of the “gilets jaunes”.
• In total, since the start of the protests, the oversight body of the national police force (IGPN) has had 53 legal investigations, mostly regarding the protest on May 1, whilst the country’s human rights watchdog (i.e, in French défenseur des droits) has had 115 investigations(figures date from April 17) regarding alleged police violence.
• And so, the evening of 16 March, although 292 people were placed in custody, the police only charged nine people, handing out very mild penalties.

A gradual crackdown

• The security forces, backed by the government and police unions, explain it three ways.
• Figures released by the Ministry of the Interior revealed 441 police officers were injured during only one day in Paris.
• This is facilitated in Paris by the urban environment, notably the piles of rubbish in the streets.

A lack of interest in de-escalation techniques

• There is a persistent lack of interest from the different authorities (interior ministry, Paris’s prefecture of police, the national police and the national gendarmerie) in the concept of de-escalation.
• This approach aims to delay or even avoid resorting to force, by prioritising other strategies (delays, dialogue, withdrawal of police forces) as much as possible.
• To ignore these strategies, drives security forces to adopt brutal tactics as soon as there is any sign of difficulty.

What the history of police work teaches us

• The history of the police shows that certain periods are more favourable to a collective examination of the conditions that grant police legitimacy.
• In France, between the 1970s and 1990s, a package of practices was developed based on three principles (“foresight, negotiation, control).
• This was an outlook based on a growing acceptance that conflict could be calmed through protest movements.

• This agreement follows legislation passed in 2017 allowing RCMP regular members and reservists to unionize and bargain collectively for the first time.
• This six-year tentative agreement applies to over 19,000 RCMP regular members (below the rank of inspector) and RCMP reservists.
• "If RCMP members and reservists vote in favour of the tentative agreement reached between the Government of Canada and the National Police Federation, it will be the first time in the history of the force that they will have had a collective agreement.
• - The Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
  "I am pleased that the Government of Canada has reached a first ever tentative agreement for RCMP members and reservists.

• TORONTO, June 23, 2021 /CNW/ -The Federal Court certified a class action against the Federal government on behalf of Indigenous people in the Territories who were wrongfully arrested, detained or held in custody by the RCMP.
• The case concerns allegations of systemic negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and breaches of sections 7 and 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
• The Federal Court's certification decision stands as a landmark decision with this being the first case involving systemic racism in policing to be certified in Canada.
• It represents an important step in holding the RCMP accountable for its systemic failures relating to indigenous peoples in the North" says James Sayce, a partner at Koskie Minsky LLP, who was appointed class counsel.