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We're heading out with the grenade launcher that fires 50 or 100-meter grenades. Then these are the rounds that go with it. These are the hand-thrown projectiles. Generally, we carry one on us. Just in case. And we head out with that ammunition. That's it. It's already quite a bit. Let's go. My name is Tintin, I'm 24 years old, I've been a police officer for 2 years. I also have family in the police, so that really motivated me. I come from a family of military and police, so it's in our blood. We are at a major spot in the city here. So, this is Rue Henri Dunant, and it starts getting busy around 2:00 PM until the early evening, midnight, or 2:00 AM. In general, that's when the peak of activity happens, but in the morning, it's very
quiet. The street on the left too. It's another hot spot. I know that in this sector, for example, I'm not exactly welcomed with open arms. But it's generally okay, it depends. Where I come from, we don't have this scenery. We don't have this scenery. There are far fewer high-rise projects or social housing. And here, plus with the drug trade that's very present, the setting is, well, it's bleak. It's not very inviting. I think, well, for the dishonest people living in it, too bad for them. But for the honest people who didn't ask for any of this and just have limited means, I put myself in their shoes, it's not easy. And this is another spot 50 meters from the other
one. But there's no one here. Oh, wait. Hello. The same ones again? Yeah, here we go again. Hello sir. Do you have some identification, sir? Great, thanks. A little. I smoke, I smoke anyway, boss. Do you have any narcotics or anything on you? No, I have nothing. Nothing at all. Not even a speck, a tiny bit, nothing at all. During a stop, when we talk to them, we look closely at their eyes because often when someone lies, their eyes give them away. It's all about behavior in the end. So we try to see how
everyone behaves, and by stopping the same people sometimes, we know them by heart. So we know if they are lying to us or not. I told myself, this isn't where you should stop me. Usually, it's in my neighborhood. Well, we stop everyone everywhere, you know that, right? All right, sir. Come on, thanks. Have a good day. Goodbye. Here on the walls, what's written is usually our names. It's to My name is Benoît, I'm 32, I've been a police officer since January 2013. I'm in the BST, the specialized field brigade. Ah, someone shouted. Yeah, someone shouted. from the BST. Well done. We're having pepper thrown at us by a grey Renault Clio. We're near Tuilerie. I'm taking the question.
Heading towards Roland Vachette. I don't even know if it works. For the city of Creil, you should know that regarding drugs, it's a hub. It's mostly going to be cannabis resin, cannabis herb. Then, like everywhere, we can find a little bit of crack, heroin, cocaine, but it remains more limited here. It was there when we checked, you know, the guy in a Clio, but I don't remember if it was a Clio 3 or a Clio 4. And actually, he had packaging bags, you know. Yes, Yeah, well, it's probably his because there's only one Clio 4 in the area. It's really almost 100%when we do a raid. It's not like in other neighborhoods where they innovate to hide things. Here, they don't care.
They do it right in the middle of the housing project. With total impunity. Yeah. Well, anyway, it's useless to go there now. No. And they're done. There you go. Well, it was neglected for quite a few years. They built their little society in there and then actually, it's a micro-city within the city with a big illicit business. Get out. It smells., one will be recreated a few days later, on the street opposite, in the next neighborhood. I mean, it's endless work. It's like a circle. Anyway, there will always be the police, the user, the dealer; it goes around in circles.
Sir, hello. And actually, at the moment of the pat-down, he starts throwing haymakers at the colleagues. The colleague who had the Taser tries to Taser, he gets a shock, he Taser the colleague on contact, and actually he zaps me too. I get hit too, because, in the meantime, I actually like this precinct, because, well, simply put, there is an enormous amount of delinquency. Narcotics are the scourge of this precinct. And so, they are everywhere. But really, it's a game of cat and mouse. We have to find them. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. So, we like to win. Therefore, we are always looking. The two vehicles heading to the triangular parking lot will block the entrance to the triangular parking lot. That way, all the young people in the
cars won't be able to leave the parking lot. We freeze the cars at that level and as soon as we can check with the K- 9 unit, we'll clear the parking lot. Copy that. The goal here is to try to find a decent amount of product and not just find a few baggies in a pouch. There you go. Agreed. We get in the vehicles and position the vehicles. You position yourselves, I'll tell you who. OK. I decided to join the police force at the age of 23. I passed the exam on the first try, so within a year, I had entered the academy.
It follows right behind. Grew up in the countryside. It's a tiny little town called Albert; father unknown and my mother was a worker. Back then, I had a family of four. My mother raised all four of us on her own. And my motivations were, well, the boredom in my old job, which didn't suit me, the lack of action. I was a maintenance worker at the hospital. So, fighting with a broom was about as much action as I could get. Yeah, well, anyway, we're following Alpha, we're with them. And the attacks played a big part too. So, I signed up, 120 Bravo.
They're taking off over there. We are going to perform security pat-downs on you, gentlemen. Get out one by one. By. ! Yeah, regarding our sector, nothing to report, should we stay at our position at the shops or join you? So, things I've learned recently, it's very difficult to catch them because there are lookouts; I mean, everyone has their role, just like us, and generally, the drugs are always hidden. So, it's actually about catching them where it gets complicated, and that's the heart of the matter: how to get evidence.
It sounds silly, but one might turn a building corner, flip their jacket inside out to a different color, walk past you again, and with the adrenaline, the fatigue, and everything, you might not necessarily recognize them. So that's striking at the beginning, and it catches you off guard. Then, there are those who are very skilled. Uh, they can hide narcotics everywhere, really everywhere. They look like magicians with their hands. It goes from one side to the other, into the sleeve, into the pants; it's just all over the place. And at the beginning, especially when you're a young officer and you don't have the eye for it, you don't see it. The best tactics that I've encountered, uh, the mailbox, the drive-through, that was pretty clever.
There, that's marked, it smells like a hunter. Ah, it's fine, it smells. Oh yes, it's cannabis flower. Cannabis resin. Right here, we're really dealing with drug trafficking. So this really is a car used for drug trafficking. or they're actually creative. Generally in France, they take ideas from the United States or elsewhere. Then, they exchange their clever tricks on social media like Snapchat and WhatsApp. They exchange things, you know, they share videos, they set challenges. Like, "Hey, I'm hiding it here, I'm selling this product." In fact, they offer commercial deals like you'd see at a supermarket or elsewhere. "Buy two, get the third one free," and " there isn't much left, so call me quick
Yeah, it's a classic business with its promotions, its sales, and that's it. In fact, most of them are as well-organized as we are. Everything is standardized, everything is structured. The small-timers are ordered around by the big bosses of the neighborhood. Well, just like us, the little guys are ordered by the big bosses in our hierarchy, actually. It's the same, you know; it's the same organization -we're running parallel, except theirs is illegal and ours isn't. Here, we are actually looking for the top of the criminal spectrum. Meaning that drugs are like little streams that flow into a river, which then flow into a major waterway. It means that while we
do work on the low-level dealer in the projects, what we're really interested in is digging deeper, climbing higher to find the people who are actually profiting from this trade, who are generating the money and living off this trafficking. You can have, I'd like to say, anyone at the top- someone who's been to university, or someone who hasn't studied at all, who's been to the "school of the streets," so to speak. You can be the head of a drug network and profit from it while living in the heart of Paris's 16th arrondissement, selling cocaine to all your friends who are graduates of top schools. To me, there is no typical profile. How do we go about understanding them on a daily basis? Observation, that really is the foundation of the job. Understanding,
observing. As for the rules of the game, I'd say they don't have any. That's what presents us with the most difficulty. And for you, your rules of the game remain the penal code and the code of criminal procedure. So you play with the weapons you have. When you observe a trafficking operation, you live with the people, you know what they do, you know the difficulties they face. And we realize that, in a criminal organization, apart from those who are really at the very top, the rest don't actually profit from it that much. They struggle, they struggle, they take risks for others. They're the ones who will fall, they're the ones who will go to prison. And all for, in the end, very little. Here, in fact, there are many apartments that
are abandoned and the young people squat in the hallways. There it is. In general, it gets quite dark in the evening. From the stairwell. No one today, they also have access to the roof through hatches. And here for example, it's a living spot. The population is much younger. It's mostly kids, 14 or 15 years old. Hop, there you go. Point of sale. In general, they hang out here, squat, smoke, tag, and that's it. Basically, they squat here. They're out all the time. All the time outside, all the time in the halls, the common areas.
There's a bit of everything. There you go. Even though it's a business in the end, there are a lot of people who suffer because of it. Uh, there are people who pay I don't know how much in building fees every month and just want to live in peace, but in the end, when they get home, they feel insecure. There are 10 or 15 people literally squatting in their lobby, causing damage, smoking, and you know. So yes, the misery here-it was when I arrived here that I realized the distress some people are in. There you go. Give it a try. We'll try, not with your pliers. Hello, ma'am. Hello. But, but in the morning when I leave at 4:30 to start at 5:00, they've defecated in the stairs. And they don't let you in this year.
I understand. Oh, it's, it's incredible. It's, Don't hesitate to call us when it's like this. I'm afraid of the truth. If you call us, ma'am, they will never know it was you, okay? You go into your kitchen, you call us, you tell us, " They're here," and we'll come. Oh yes, I think that's it. These are people who earn twice as much as I do but hang out at the bottom of their building. So obviously, it's a free-for-all. But we'll talk about it again in 10 or 15 years. That's all I tell myself now. No, they made that choice. I'm a police officer, I'm not a social worker or anything like that. My role is to make sure there is no more drug trafficking. So it doesn't matter if he does it to give money to
his mother or because he loves doing it, I don't have to sort that out, that's not my job. Actually, all the basements of the buildings at La Commanderie are in the same state as this one. Great. What we, the BST, are asked to do is to reconquer the territories that we have gradually lost. To the right. Sir, police. Get against the wall, please. Do you have an ID card? Yeah. Can I see it, please? I went out to get a coffee, I didn't take my ID with me. But I don't have it.
I'm going to perform a pat-down on you. Sir, can you turn around? What manages the territory, unfortunately, isn't just the young people squatting; moving them along is enough, there's no issue there. But it's the drugs that have taken over. So obviously, if there are no more drugs in that spot, there are no more young people waiting in that spot. So the territory is reclaimed. So, we have a policy of "harassment," so to speak, in the sense that we're going to check, check, check again, pass by, sometimes even without checking, sometimes they try to chase us away, and well, we stayed an hour and a half doing traffic checks right in the middle of their drug dealing. Heading to Robertin. Wait, don't move
. Let us off on foot. It's me, we arrived, he was over there, you're cornering me, get there, get there, stop moving, stop moving, check that properly. But if you have nothing to hide, why do you run? How many? Exactly, for papers, don't run. Obviously, we arrive with 14 of us. So they start running even if they have nothing to feel guilty about. Once we catch them, we say, "Why are you running?" And there, they have no reason because they tell us, "We're afraid," for what? To go home? Were you going home? Yes. Okay. Every day. Good. We see the same faces, actually, quite simply. Sometimes, we have cordial exchanges with them. Are you doing well? We answer back, too, eh. There are
also exchanges, after all. It's not just violence. They know how to talk at some point. Come on, give me your logbook because it says police and I'm asking you for your logbook. Logbook. We're crossing mountains here. Thanks. Good luck. He doesn't understand anything. There you go. So, that's the advantage when we know them after a while, is that we don't need to put ourselves in danger by getting out to check, because we know their identity. Well, he's acting tough, but actually, when we ticket him, he comes to see us later with his tickets and then he whines. Yeah. because they're still just big kids.
A bond is formed, we run into them every day. I mean, I see these people more than my own family. So at some point, I inevitably get to know them. Hello. We're going to do a quick police check. Like, in this whole square, you came for me, you have nothing better to do. We say here you go. You've decided to be annoying today, actually. Yeah. Yes. Because you've decided to be annoying, bro. We're not your bros, we're just doing our job. Look at me in all this, you have nothing better to do
because you're always outside without a permit. Well, what you learn when you're around them every day, No, we don't ask questions, we just observe, we are observation officers. We observe. No worries. No permit. Stop moving, you're going to annoy me. No worries. I live right there. I know, you think I was running, that I was with the others. No, not at all. Be honest. I swear to God, no. We still try to lecture them a bit, because they're still young, but afterwards, I go home, I have my life, everything is fine.
He's the one in his neighborhood, he's the one hanging out in his hallway, that disgusting hall that smells like urine. Not me. I'm comfortable at home on my couch in the evening. He's in his hall full of piss. That's it. Absolutely not. They sell poison, you shouldn't say "Oh, but the poor little thing," no, a person who wants to get out today can get out. Where did you put it? Here. The French system allows everyone, in equality, to be able to attend any school. It's one of the countries in the world where everything is possible.
A kid from the projects can go to Sciences Po just like a person from a wealthy background can be a plumber. We are all on the same level here. If someone doesn't understand that, well, too bad for them. From the start, I learned to put up barriers. It happens naturally. Ah, I don't have We don't know who to believe after a while because they all have the same story. What is the story? Well, my mom is sick, my sister is pregnant, and then Dad is unemployed. But if they're really all like that, then things are pretty rough. Some people say, "Yeah, I didn't have my dad, he wasn't there to guide me." I didn't have mine either. My mother was all alone and there were four of us. So, I think that if you really want to get through a rough patch, you can always do it. You just
have to put in the effort and make sacrifices. No, to me, there are no excuses. No, I think that they are certainly also afraid of change. I tell them, I say, "Just go look for a job." They say, "There are no jobs." Well, how do other people manage then? You drop off a resume; it's harsh to say, but there's no such thing as a low-end job. You drop off a resume at McDonald's. We tell them, we say, "You know that later on, you won't be able to do anything with drug money.""You won't be able to buy a house, you won't be able to buy a car in your name, get a loan, nothing." And they know it, they are aware of it. They say, "But for now, I've chosen to do this, I'm free."
Why do they end up like that? These are questions, these are societal questions. I think it's poverty that initially can lead people to fall into that. I've been in the gendarmerie for almost 20 years. When you're a young brigadier and you manage to seize 1 kg of cannabis resin, at your level, that's already something very good. When you reach the research section, when you seize a ton of cannabis, that's also something very good. And for me, what's more relevant is not necessarily hitting the product, but rather managing to intercept the money used to buy that product. It's more rewarding.
You have results that may seem paltry compared to the drugs entering France, but what would happen if we did nothing? Wouldn't it be worse? Wouldn't it be anarchy? Wouldn't everyone want to do it? Wouldn't you have even more settling of scores? Wouldn't you have more health problems? Since there would be no investigation, well, maybe an 8- year-old kid would end up with a dose of crack or a dose of cocaine. Maybe it's becoming widespread in middle schools, in primary schools, where you find people with drugs. We cannot do nothing. pa
