In response to recurring criticisms aimed at the IGPN (the “police of the police”) Emmanuel Macron is expected to announce, this Tuesday in Roubaix (North), a form of external and independent control relating to the “general” action of the forces of the ‘order, according to information from CNEWS. The opportunity to see what is being done elsewhere in our neighbors, such as the United Kingdom, in terms of police control.
The British model is built around the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). The British police force claims independence and transparency in its investigations into the possible most serious blunders of the police force. But it does not escape criticism, especially on its slowness.
The debate on police violence in France raised the question of police control, a subject on which the United Kingdom stands out for its approach.
“We make our decisions completely independent from the police and the government,” boasts, on its website, the institution created in 2018 overseeing the conduct of law enforcement in England and Wales and their 130,000 police officers.
This autonomy is reflected in its governance: none of the members of its management is from the police, to which the director general cannot have belonged, moreover, unlike France, where the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) is regularly lambasted for its bias and supposed opacity.
25% of former police officers among investigators
Its managing director Michael Lockwood, who reports to Parliament, previously held senior positions in London’s local authorities. Other members of the management come from the institutional and associative worlds and even from the private sector. Among investigators, only 25% are former police officers.
Most complaints are dealt with directly by the police forces concerned, with the IOPC investigating only the most serious, such as death as a result of police intervention, violent assault or serious corruption.
With a thousand employees, it also defines the standards for the handling of complaints by the police and aims to improve practices.
“More transparency”
Emmanuel Macron announced, last April in Le Figaro, the creation of a “parliamentary delegation responsible for the control (of) police”, like the delegation for intelligence.
The control will be “external” to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN). Regarding the functioning of this institution, the Elysee said that there would be “more transparency” and “greater effectiveness of (its) recommendations”.
Emmanuel Macron must close, this Tuesday, September 14 at the police school of Roubaix, the Beauvau of security, a vast consultation intended to improve the conditions of exercise of the profession of police officer.
Among the measures announced should include provisions on video surveillance, training of the police, supervision and “attractiveness” of the functions of judicial police.
The measures will be of a “legislative and regulatory” nature and for the “short and medium term”.