Shooting in Valencia: the mayor calls for a more regular police presence

The Drôme prefecture announced on Friday May 12 an increase in police personnel in Valence, after two people were shot dead in recent days.

The Drôme prefecture announced on Friday a “significant increase” in police personnel in Valence, after the death of a man targeted by gunfire, on the night of Thursday May 11 to Friday May 12, and the death of another individual a few days ago, against a background of settling scores.

“In a context of settling of accounts between gangs”, the prefect of Drôme, Elodie Degiovanni, “confirms her total involvement in the fight against crime and drug trafficking in these districts”, indicated the prefecture in a press release.

#Security Elodie Degiovanni, Prefect of Drôme, participated in the operational assembly of the security system in the districts of Fontbarlettes and Le Plan in the presence of the @PoliceNat_26 and the commander of the #CRS reinforcement arrival tonight pic.twitter.com/erSeVKwtGL
– Prefect of the Drôme (@Prefet26) May 11, 2023

On the ground, “a hundred CRS, including the CRS-8 (a unit specializing in the fight against urban violence capable of being sent quickly to any point in France, editor’s note), as well as zonal reinforcements, will come support the staff of the DDSP26”, the departmental directorate of public security, can we read in the press release.

“Abandonment of the State”

For several months, the inhabitants of the Fontbarlettes district in Valence have denounced a climate of war. Invited to speak on CNEWS, the mayor LR of the commune Nicolas Daragon deplored an abandonment of the State. “The State does not intervene in a structural way, that is to say that we are sent CRS three days every four months. But how can we control a neighborhood with that? ”, protested the elected official.

“The judicial police arrests, justice condemns the dealers, but when the ground is left free by the latter, it is necessary to take back the ground and it is necessary that it is the police who are present”, continued Nicolas Daragon, who deplores not never having had a response to the ten letters intended for Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.