This Wednesday, the Council of State rejected the appeal filed by several associations and NGOs to stop the systemic practice of facial checks. If the highest administrative court in France recognized that this problem existed, it considers itself incompetent on the subject.
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Yes, facial checks exist and constitute “ discrimination » but the Council of State is not competent to force the State to fundamentally modify its “public policy” in this matter. This is the opinion delivered this Wednesday by the highest French administrative court.
In a press release, the Council of State indicated that the measures requested by six associations and NGO denouncing systemic practices “ in reality aim at a general redefinition of public policy choices regarding the use of identity checks for the purposes of repressing delinquency and preventing disturbances to public order which do not fall within the powers of the administrative judge “.
A decision qwho disappointed the six associations at the origin of this unprecedented group action before the Council of State. They expressed their disappointment following the rejection of their appeal but still welcomed a “ victory “. “ The Council of State does not deny the existence of facial checks. He speaks of serious and systematic practices, even if he does not want to use the word systemic », Explains Omer Mas Capitolin of the community house association for solidarity development, one of the requesting organizations.
And to add: “ Justice recognizes that there is a practice which is prohibited by law which is practiced in a generalized manner, these are not isolated cases. In a way, it’s a victory “.
The existence of facial checks has been widely documented for years. In 2017, the Defender of Rights concluded that a young man “perceived as black or Arab” was twenty times more likely to be stopped than the rest of the population.
The Council of State orders to guarantee the effective wearing and visibility of police personnel numbers
France’s highest administrative court ordered the Interior Ministry on Wednesday to make effective the obligation imposed on law enforcement officers to wear their identification number in intervention, the RIO, and to make it more visible. “ The Minister of the Interior has not taken appropriate measures to ensure effective compliance by members of the internal security forces with the requirement for effective and visible wearing of the individual identifier », indicated the highest administrative court in a ruling.
The Council of State therefore requires that the “ readability » of the RIO or “ sufficient for the public » and he gave the ministry one year to comply with his decision. The latter must “ take all useful measures to ensure compliance by police and gendarmerie officers, including when the usual location of their identification number is covered by personal protective equipment, of the obligation to clearly wear their identification number ‘identification “.