in the footsteps of the investigators who flush out the jihadists – L’Express

In cases of radicalization, reports from relatives, neighbors, teachers or anonymous sources are not rare. The National Center for Assistance and Prevention of Radicalization (CNAPR) tells L’Express that it receives between 500 and 600 calls each month via its platform. Stop jihadism – compared to 300 on average before 2020. This site, created in 2014, allows citizens to report an acquaintance or relative via a call to a toll-free number or by e-mail. According to the Anti-Terrorism Coordination Unit (Uclat), which runs the service, most reports come “from families who are wondering about the change in their child’s behavior”. If necessary, agents can provide them with “advice to identify the markers of radicalization” or put them in contact with a psychologist “to support them and try to restore dialogue when it is broken”. For two months, the service has nevertheless ensured that the number of monthly calls has “increased considerably, due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the one hand, and attacks on the other”. In “9 out of 10 cases”, following an evaluation systematically undertaken by Uclat, the initiation of security monitoring “is not necessary”. “However, reporting is not in vain; it allows parents, relatives, sometimes employers, to benefit from the reading keys allowing them to identify the possible control mechanisms that are at work”, is -He specifies.

Above all, this service allows “to help loved ones”, and the fact of calling “does not represent a punitive measure”, insists the Ministry of the Interior on its site. “After an assessment of the situation, state services will put in place appropriate support to prevent the situation from deteriorating,” it is added. “We are aware that it is very difficult for loved ones, especially parents, to call the platform. They are often lost, confused, have the impression of betraying their child. But appropriate support is essential, and a report can save lives, insists Charline Delporte, president of the National Center for Family Support and Training Against Sectarian Control (Caffes). I happened to fill out the form with parents who refused to make the report themselves, while their child clearly needed help,” she whispers.

All reports, whether received by the CNAPR toll-free number, a gendarmerie brigade, a police station or institutional actors (national education, magistrates, child welfare, etc.), are then transmitted to the prefect of the department of residence of the reported person. Several times a month, the latter brings together a departmental evaluation group (GED), made up of departmental heads of internal security, the national police, the national gendarmerie and the public prosecutor, responsible for studying these reports. Depending on their relevance, the vast majority of cases are therefore not retained. “With each terrorist attack, there are a multitude of calls: many people start to ask questions about their neighbor, their work colleague… There are many fanciful or abusive reports,” testifies to L’Express a territorial intelligence agent responsible for these themes for almost fifteen years.

In other cases, the elements collected by the intelligence services are on the contrary more relevant. “We then investigate everything that can be found on the Internet, attendance at radicalized places of worship, changes in behavior, dress… Taking into account the famous “taqiya” [NDLR : une technique de dissimulation religieuse visant à tromper l’ennemi en cachant sa foi] and by discerning people who have a somewhat rigorous practice from those who are truly radicalized,” adds the police officer. Sometimes, reports from relatives prove essential: the man remembers, for example, a 17-year-old girl, approached on social networks by a member of the terrorist organization Al-Nusra in 2017. “A letter-writing relationship had been established, and he was ready to bring her to Syria. It was someone close to this teenager’s entourage, himself a Salafist, who was concerned about a change in behavior and made the report. We were able to take care of her and avoid this departure,” he says.

Certain individuals, particularly those likely to go abroad or participate in the preparation of a terrorist attack, will be registered in the famous file for processing reports for the prevention of radicalization of a terrorist nature (FSPRT), managed by the Uclat. People located at the “high end of the spectrum” of radicalization – deemed the most dangerous – will be monitored by the DGSI. The others, by the Central Territorial Intelligence Service (SCRT) or, in Paris, by the police headquarters. Finally, the departmental monitoring units for the prevention of radicalization and support for families (CPRAF), mobilized around prefects in collaboration with public prosecutors and social actors, have been responsible since 2014 for carrying out multidisciplinary preventive action. with people “rather located at the bottom of the radicalization spectrum”, explains Etienne Apaire, secretary general of the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization (CIPDR).

In 2022, 632 CPRAFs were held throughout the country, for 2,601 individual follow-ups and 634 family support. According to Etienne Apaire, 61% of these follow-ups concerned young people under 18 years old, and 20% people aged 18 to 30 years old. If men represented 57% of those monitored last year, the proportion of young girls is greater among those under 18, where it reaches 46% – it is 43% among 18-30 year olds, and 31%. among those over 30.

The composition of these prevention units, which meet at least once a month within the prefectures, can vary depending on the departments. Around the table are generally the State services (CAF, regional health agency, judicial protection of youth), the local authorities responsible for social support (departmental council, social assistance for children, etc.) and the associative network. “Concretely, we take care of adults or minors in danger of radicalization or entire radicalized families. Most often, the goal is to break a certain radical influence by fighting against social, educational, professional isolation: integration through housing or employment is very important,” says Etienne Apaire. Religious mediators can also provide help, in order to “put into perspective religious convictions which may appear radical with regard to republican principles”, he indicates.

“Our work is very delicate: it involves assessing the potential violent action of an individual, and whether or not there is religious proselytism in their practice,” one of these religious referents tells L ‘Express. To do this, the man relies on a series of interviews with the person concerned, studies the sources and authors favored by his interlocutor, exchanges around themes such as freedom of expression, the attacks having already taken place on French territory, religious transmission… “We are looking for elements, but we can never be 100% sure, obviously. People who clearly claim and justify violence are very rare. And the others often know what is needed to tell or not to tell the referents,” he explains.

“Sometimes, we put the young person in a situational strategy and the discourse falters. When we push him a little and he ends up calling us unbelievers, for example, we understand,” adds Julien Rico, head of department at the Committee. dauphinois socio-educational action (Codase), which follows certain profiles within the framework of the CPRAF of Isère. This “wavering” can also be perceived by loved ones themselves. “A 17-year-old girl was reported by her parents because she smiled in front of a report on the Bataclan attacks. They began to question her on the issue, and realized that there was a problem. Nothing else in her behavior would have made it possible to understand her regimentation, when she was ready to leave for a conflict zone… It came down to that,” says Stéphane Vial, director of Codase.

On a daily basis, these field specialists supervise the youngest in order to understand the phenomena of radicalization and prevent their possible actions. “There are all kinds of profiles. Since 2015, I have not seen two who had followed exactly the same trajectory,” warns the director. According to him, certain people reported would thus simply try to attract the attention of adults, using religion “as they could have used drugs or something else”, while others have really “been captured” by an ideology. extremist, via social networks or people around them, for example. “You also have processes of self-recruitment on the Internet, with people alone in front of their screen who adhere to conspiracy theories, or find in extremism a response to their adolescent faults,” adds Stéphane Vial.

In 2022, a little less than a third of the people followed by the CPRAF had been followed for less than six months, half for less than a year, and a little less than a quarter for more than two years. “When there is no longer a situation of radicalization, when the person reopens to society, the monitoring of the CPRAF stops, which does not prevent the various institutions which participate in these CPRAF from remaining vigilant,” indicates Etienne Apaire. “The prefecture has the last word on this question, in collegiality with the rest of the CPRAF. If the actors do not agree on the degree of disengagement, we check the elements which give rise to doubt, we take the time”, concludes Stéphane Vial, who specifies that the “returns” of files already taken care of within the CPRAF of Isère remain “extremely marginal”.