Following a recent flash ball incident, the Defender of Rights called for a general moratorium on its use. The Interior Ministry is opposed, judging the request “counterproductive”.
Shedding light on a sensitive matter. It is the will of the Defender of rights, Jacques Toubon, who decided to take action on the circumstances reported by the press in which a minor, aged 14 (Amine), was allegedly injured by a flash ball shot in the testicles, on the night of 13 to July 14, 2015, in Argenteuil (Val-d’Oise).
Opening of an investigation into the facts
In a press release, Jacques Toubon indicates that he has decided to open an investigation into these facts. The decision was taken “having regard to the apparent seriousness of the injury, the best interests of the child, in the case of a minor aged 14, and the general recommendations made by the institution and recalled in a opinion sent today to the Minister of the Interior on the use by the police of means of intermediate force, including the Flash-Ball superpro and the DB 40×46 defense ball launcher (long gun) ”.
Prohibit flash-ball during demonstrations
And on this last weapon precisely, the Defender of Rights has decided to take strong measures. For example, he recommends that, “if this weapon remains in staffing, that the imprecision of this weapon be mentioned and that the use of this weapon be framed during identity or road checks. “
Finally, he also recommended “to prohibit the use of this weapon in a context of demonstration and pronounced in view of a general moratorium on the use of this weapon”.
Police officers wind up
With these requests, the Defender of Rights responds to a request from Amine’s father who asked this Wednesday on RMC the Ministry of the Interior to follow this recommendation. “For me, it’s madness to use a weapon with such power. I’m not telling you the force of the impact on Amine. He knocked him down as violently as possible. He was hit in the lower abdomen, exploded testicle, blood in the groin, a three-hour operation … It is not benign. What are we waiting for to ban this weapon? », He hammered.
For their part, the police do not want to hear about this ban. “For us, it is out of the question to do without the flash ball,” said Nicolas Comte, deputy secretary general of the police union SGP-Police FO Unit, guest of Bourdin Direct (RMC / BMFTV) this Wednesday. “The problem is that the Defender of Rights does not explain to us how we are going to do without. Are we going to defend ourselves with fists? Are we using a 9mm automatic? There are not many alternative weapons, ”he concluded.
An argument taken up by the Ministry of the Interior which opposed the ban on flashball this morning. “A moratorium on intermediate weapons would be counterproductive and could have dangerous consequences: we cannot (…) afford to disarm our police forces,” said Pierre-Henry Brandet, spokesperson for the ministry in comments reported by Agence France Presse (AFP).
According to him, “equipping the police with intermediate-strength weapons responds to a double concern: ensuring the protection of police and gendarmes exposed to increasingly violent attacks, while limiting the use of firearms. which must remain extremely rare and intervene only in the most serious cases and circumstances ”.
.