A French criminal gang, made of of 16 and 17-year-old minors who have half a dozen burglaries on their record, broke into a policeman's apartment in the capital and are suspected of taking his service weapon, writes the V4NA news agency citing a piece by Le Parisien. The thieving teenagers wasted no time, and authorities suspect that they have committed as many as six burglaries since the beginning of the year in the 17th and 19th districts of Paris, as well as in Nanterre, in the Hauts-de-Seine department near the capital, and in the town of Pantin, in Seine-Saint-Denis department.
One of the victims was a cop whose service weapon had vanished from his apartment in the 19th district following the incident, together with fifteen bullets which he kept under his bed.
According to press reports, the officer was surprised that the burglars did not steal his expensive electronic devices, only his pistol, along with the bullets.
One of the perpetrators was caught using CCTV images, as investigators have managed to identify one youngster on the footage. He's a teen who's had many previous run-ins with the authorities for similar offences. Using the suspect's phone data, police have managed to track down his accomplices swiftly. One of them was wearing the same Apple smartwatch he had stolen from an apartment when he was arrested. During the house search, police found the clothes the suspects were wearing during the burglary, but the officer's missing gun has yet to be recovered.
However, this is not the end of a recent series of anti-police attacks in France. In the country's second largest French city, Marseilles, a man assaulted an officer with a rock in front of the police station.
According to Le Figaro, the incident took place on the night of 11 August, when a man in his thirties armed with a knife tried to enter the police building, when an on-duty officer ordered him to stop. He paid no heed, turned towards the cop and hit him on the head with a rock he had picked up from the street. Thanks to the quick intervention of other police officers at the station, the assailant was quickly arrested. It turned out that he had an extensive criminal record for about twenty previous offences. The article also mentions that the offender appears to have suffered from a psychiatric disorder, and that the injured officer was rushed to hospital.
The threats police officers face were also highlighted by Le Monde in 2021.
According to their article, the number of violent acts against officers has more than doubled in two decades. Over 85 cases of violence against public officials are recorded every day across the country, but since not all cases are reported, the real number is probably higher. The situation is worst in the capital, where authorities registered 2,916 incidents in 2020, which is 10.8 per cent of the nationwide figure, and translates into as many as eight attacks a day.
The predominantly Muslim Seine-Saint-Denis department near Paris came in second place with as many as 2,292 incidents, while Nord – a department in the north of France – finished in third place in the stats with 1,298 anti-police attacks, according to figures published by the newspaper. Le Monde also highlighted that while a total of 13,392 anti-police attacks were recorded nationwide in 2000, these numbers have more than doubled to a whooping 31,257 cases by 2020. Attacks on police have since become a daily occurrence in France, with officers falling victim to violence on a regular basis.
