Through Writing La Presse de la Manche
Published on 17 Jan 22 at 20:04
The Administrative Court of Appeal of Nantes rejected the appeal filed by a Cherbourg police officer who wanted to have his dismissal canceled. This had been recorded a few months after his conviction for breach of trust, fraudulent alteration of the truth in a writing and use of forgery in writing, for acts committed while he was president of the Cherbourg Police Sports Association (ASPC), from 2014 to 2017.
In 2018, the Caen Criminal Court had given a 3-month suspended prison sentence to this man, who joined the national police in 1995 and was assigned to the public security district of Cherbourg since 2014.
At the same time, the investigation of the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) had noted “various professional and ethical breaches” of the agent.
18 association checks
After the appearance of the person concerned before the Joint Administrative Commission, the latter issued a opinion favorable to a revocation, delivered in October 2018.
In its judgment, the Nantes court detailed the precise context of this decision. The former president of the PHAC had used “for personal purposes” of the funds of the association, for a amount of approximately €5,500.
In particular, he had cashed 18 checks from the association on his personal account, in addition to using the bank card of the structure for personal purchases.
The search carried out at his home revealed a television, consoles and video games, as well as documents from the association. The applicant did not dispute the facts but considered that they should be put into perspective.
For the judges, the fact that the agent would have reimbursed the sums in dispute remained “without impact” on the sanction. Like the fact that another police officer, having participated in the facts, would not have been punished so severely.
The applicant considered that the facts had taken place within an associative framework, “outside the service”, and were “exclusively” the consequence of a “hazardous management” of the association.
However, the authors of the contested decision had revealed that “the disputed transactions carried out by the person concerned for three years outside of any collective decision illustrated the intentional nature of his acts committed with full knowledge of the facts”.
DIY store
The court also returned to this episode where the president of the association had benefited from a two-day discharge from service in April 2016, to organize a regional shooting championship.
He was accused of not having gone there on the first day and of having preferred to make a personal purchase in a DIY store. His ex-girlfriend had told IGPN that they had also spent the same afternoon together “walking”.
He was also accused of having surrendered at the bank, in uniform and carrying his service weapon, to demand to be received by the financial adviser of the association to close the account of the judo section. So many grievances which, according to the judges, justified pronouncing a disciplinary sanction.
Was it “disproportionate” as the policeman claimed? The latter highlighted his ratings and letters of congratulations received during his career, as well as the absence of previous disciplinary sanctions. And the fact that his actions, known only to police circles, have not been revealed to the public.
“However, these elements have no bearing on the seriousness of the characterized breaches of which he is accused”, ruled the Nantes judges.
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