In an internal letter addressed to his teams, the director general of the gendarmerie, Hubert Bonneau, plans “the hypothesis of a major commitment” in an international context of multiple threats.
A document that is debated. In a letter addressed to all the gendarmerie staff, Sunday, February 19, the director general of the National Gendarmerie (DGGN), Hubert Bonneau believes that “the possibility of an armed conflict and an aggression of the national sanctuary must be seriously considered “.
In a context “where conflicts and threats are multiplying”, and “since the Russian invasion in Ukraine, the hypothesis of a major commitment”, must be envisaged and the gendarmerie “has the duty to prepare to hold ( its place) “, reports The world. The daily has been able to obtain the document in question in which Hubert Bonneau intends to “strengthen the effectiveness of the action” French, especially in the fight against organized crime and narcotal.
“There are other more important subjects”
Hubert Bonneau indicates that “political developments in the United States with their possible consequences on NATO will undoubtedly push Europe to engage more than before for its own defense”. “Faced with this, I want to insist on our link with the armies and on the structuring issue of the DOT (operational defense of the territory)”, insists the ex-commander of the GIGN.
This missive has not really been unanimous in the ranks of the gendarmerie. “There are other more important subjects than the dowry. Real questions are: will we have budgets for our 200 mobile brigades, cars, our presence on the public highway”, plague frame. “War is still the subject of the military,” he abounds. A second analyzes the words of the director general as a “recall of the membership of the gendarmes to the armies”, no more or less.
New objectives, but with what budget?
Hubert Bonneau promises “concrete and lasting results in the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking”, in a period to say the least, delicate for the gendarmerie. It must renew 15 % of its workforce each year, in a tense budgetary context. The chief of the gendarmerie evokes him “unprecedented volatility of the political context”. “We will have to make choices,” he continues. In other words: first renovate and maintain the gendarmerie housing stock, 430 barracks out of 3,728 are in a state of dilapidation. Conversely, “any commitment of controllable expenditure (and therefore in particular investment) is paused”, he announces.
Finally, the creation of a national judicial police unit of the gendarmerie was mentioned. As announced by Online Intelligence On January 21 Denier, the general of division Sylvain nucleus – currently responsible for the command for the environment and health – was appointed prefigurator of this unit. Its objective is to improve the legibility of “entities today dispersed (…)This new national operator will concentrate the central investigation capacities, criminal intelligence and criminalic expertise, “concludes the mail of the DGGN.