Through Pierre Chemel
Published on
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Criticized sometimes for its laxity, sometimes for its lack of will on the subject of urban rodeos in the city center, the ecological municipality de Lyon came out of its silence this weekend.
Accelerations, rear wheels, skids, motocross or scooter, urban rodeos, hitherto confined to certain neighborhoods or peripheral towns, now concern the hyper center of the capital of Gaul.
Last Wednesday on the place Bellecour, like a week ago. Last Saturday on the Place des Terreaux. Three in ten days. Arousing the anger and exasperation of many Lyonnais on social networks and the virulent reaction of elected members of the opposition, like Peter Oliver, Republican mayor of the 2nd arrondissement, again asked this Friday morning about CNEWS.
7:51 p.m.: Again and again rodeos in place #Bellecour at #Lyon ! For 9 months we have been promised municipal and national reinforcements… and still nothing. Residents and elected officials are abandoned # çasuffit @CNEWS @BFMTV @LCI @Le_Figaro @lyonmag @leprogreslyon pic.twitter.com/eOtIhOg2bO
– Pierre OLIVER (@ poliver69) May 5, 2021
Fear of over-accidents
“It is obviously unbearable that we have so many rodeos in the city”, commented Thursday, May 6. Gregory Doucet. He justifies the strategy of not intervening immediately – which can be interpreted as inaction: “Direct intervention on rodeo writers could create additional accidents.” The mayor of Lyon prefers to provide a posteriori response: “We film, we conduct the investigation, we arrest them and if necessary, we imprison them”. A position in line with the directives in force within the national police (see box).
Video surveillance
An argument repeated a little later on BFMTV Lyon through Mohamed Chihi, deputy in charge of the safety, security and tranquility of the city of Lyon, who also did not fail to point out that the maintenance of order on public roads was the responsibility of the national police .
For their part, he said, “the municipal police and the video surveillance center are helping to identify delinquents who engage in these practices.” A video surveillance that the town hall does not intend to develop further, however, at this stage, being satisfied with the cameras already installed.
Why don’t the police intervene at motorcycle rodeos? Mohamed Chihi (@ MohamedChihi007), security assistant in Lyon evokes “an extremely high risk of accident” pic.twitter.com/IKsdMwjPuv
— BFM Lyon (@BFMLyon) May 6, 2021
Anti-rodeo cell
The security assistant finally clarified that the principle of an anti-rodeo cell, described as a sea serpent by the opposition, had finally been validated by the prefecture and that a first meeting between security actors – city, prefecture, departmental directorate of public security – could take place in the coming weeks.
32 surveys between January and March
For his part, Nicolas jacquet, the Lyon prosecutor recently recalled in a press release that in the first quarter of 2021, 32 investigations were opened in response to rodeos, of which 18 made it possible to identify those responsible, judged in the wake of immediate appearance in most cases.
The delinquents feel untouchable and multiply the provocations.
A #Lyon they come to do #rodeo in the city center, Place des Terreaux, under the windows of Grégory Doucet.
pic.twitter.com/F78ZcwYHqT– Police officers and commissioners (@PoliceSCSI) April 28, 2021
“Participation in a motorized rodeo or the encouragement to participate in it incurs a penalty of 1 year of imprisonment as well as a fine of 15,000 euros. In addition to the confiscation of the vehicle, are also incurred the additional penalties of suspension, or even cancellation, of the driving license, ”recalls the prosecution.
But in fact, can the police pursue two – wheelers?
The prosecutions are regulated and framed by a memorandum of 1999, updated several times since, in particular in 2007, after the death in Villiers-le-Bel of two teenagers on mini-motorcycles struck by the police.
“We must not risk endangering the life of the person being followed, that of the police officer or that of others. If the vehicle takes a wrong way, we are not supposed to do the same thing ”, explained on this subject in 2019 a union at the CheckNews service of Liberation. “But in serious situations, in the event of a blood crime for example, one can take significant risks to intercept the person”, added another. “We teach the police to know how to give up in case of danger,” insisted the Sicop (police communication service).
Two key words within the police force: discernment and proportionality. Clearly, we do not prosecute an individual on two wheels for not wearing a helmet or the theft of a cell phone but for a serious act such as carrying a weapon, the commission of a crime or the danger to the life of others. In short, it will be understood, urban rodeos do not fall within the criteria to justify a lawsuit.
In terms of rhetoric, the police no longer speak of a chase but of “remote marking”.
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