The Human Rights League, the Syndicate of Lawyers of France, the Syndicate of the Judiciary and the Action of Christians Against Torture announced on Wednesday, March 29, that they had filed an urgent appeal before the Council of State for make effective the obligation imposed on gendarmes and police officers – and in general on officers who perform their duties in uniform – to wear their identification number during their interventions.
These four organizations had already filed a classic appeal in September, which is still under investigation. But they believe that "the question has become urgent with regard to the management of the maintenance of order" in the context of the mobilization against the pension reform, they say in their request, consulted by Agence France-Presse. The case will go into open court on Monday, April 3.
Mandatory since 2014
Since 2014, police and gendarmes must wear an individual identification number called "RIO" (for "repository of identities and organization") on their uniform, allowing them to find an official in the event of a slip-up. In practice, this obligation is far from generalized, for example during law enforcement operations.
In their application, the organizations argue that the "unjustified" or "disproportionate" use of force has been observed and documented "on many occasions" during demonstrations and rallies - declared or not - against the pension reform. It was also "noted", during this social movement, that "police officers do not wear their RIO in general", they say.
"There are attacks on the freedom to demonstrate, and a systematic use of force, often without control of the possible agent because without the possibility of identifying him", estimates Thibaut Spriet, national secretary at the Syndicat de la magistrature (classified to the left).
Some police officers consider the obligation to wear their RIO "stigmatising". This seven-digit number stemmed from a campaign promise by François Hollande in 2012, the objective of which was to fight against racial profiling.
