Castaner calls exemplarity ethics police - The interior minister asked the police and gendarmes to "keep their cool" after new images and accusations of police violence.

“Exemplarity” and “ethics”. Two words that sound like a call to order. Christophe Castaner reminded the police and gendarmes of their duty of "exemplarity" and their "ethics" during his vows to the national police pronounced at the National School of Officers of Cannes-Écluse (Seine-et-Marne).

"It is the honor of the police that is at stake, we do not make a dent in ethics, except to lower ourselves, to lower the police", said Christophe Castaner, an explicit reference to a video showing policeman tripping over protester in Toulouse.

Castaner calls exemplarity ethics police

“Distinguish order and brutality”

Images added to recent violence by police during demonstrations against pensions and the death of a delivery man in Paris after a controversial traffic stop.

"The fair and proportionate use of force is what separates democracy from arbitrariness, what distinguishes order and brutality, it is the foundation, too, of our confidence with the French", said again the minister of the Interior. Recalling that the police had the right to use force, he stressed that it was "a heavy responsibility, the heaviest there is".

"It is to take stock of the situation. It’s always being discerning. It is taming your feelings, controlling yourself, analyzing and acting with moderation and proportionality, "he added.

“Policeman or gendarme, to represent the police, is to be a model, it is to assume who you are and wear your RIO (Referential of identities and organization, that is to say the number identification). It is to be respectful, even in the face of those who are not. It is keeping your cool, even in the face of provocation, even in the face of hatred, even in the face of beatings ”, he added while the police are regularly vilified on social networks for not not display their identification number.

Already on Saturday, the Minister of the Interior admitted that the relationship between the French and the police could have been undermined in recent months. The use of force “must always, in all circumstances, even in the face of insults, even in the face of projectiles, blows, brutality, proportionate and controlled. Never excessive, let alone free, "he said at a conference held at Place Beauvau.

Philippe demands "a lot of demands"

Sunday evening on France 2, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe had also asked “a lot of requirement” from the police and gendarmes in the maintenance of order, affirming that a “sanction” should be decided against any agent having made a “use disproportionate ”of force.

"Because their mission is incredibly difficult, because it is incredibly important, you have to be very demanding" of the police, said the Prime Minister, when asked about the images of violence committed by protesting police.

“When there is a disproportionate use of force, when one does not respect the rules of engagement, then there must be an investigation, there must be a sanction if necessary”, he had stressed, before confiding his “ total solidarity ”towards the police in general, who do a“ difficult job ”when they“ are insulted, spit on, throw cobblestones on them and must remain calm ”.