THE SUBURBS ATTACKED BY CRIMINALS

This will continue until the number of police officers has been increased

Assaults and burglaries are increasing in the suburbs. Not a day goes by without the police being alerted by some misdeed. It is particularly the Seine-et-Oise region that seems to be the target of criminals of all kinds, who operate there with disturbing mastery. The tragic exploits of the Polish gang in Versailles and the surrounding area have brought the emotion of the inhabitants to its peak.
For several months, the first mobile police brigade has been based in Versailles. It was believed that by giving it this assignment, this brigade would provide greater services and would be able to follow more closely the cases within its jurisdiction. These gentlemen of the underworld do not seem to have been concerned about these considerations, and they are carrying out their operations with the same activity as when Mr. Colin's inspectors had their offices on Rue de Grammont in Paris.
The criminals seem to be very well informed about the low police force in the suburbs, and they are taking advantage of this to put the localities under control.

We would not want to sow panic among the peaceful suburbanites, but it is important, we believe, that they urgently demand from their municipalities better surveillance of their persons and their property.
Do you know that there are already localities - Aulnay, for example, which has more than 20,000 inhabitants, where there are barely three gendarmes and a brigadier to ensure the safety of the roads? Isn't that unimaginable!

A Commissioner's Opinion

A suburban police commissioner we interviewed on this subject told us:
Our suburban police system needs to be completely overhauled. It dates back thirty years. We do not take into account the tremendous increase in suburban agglomerations in recent years. A town of 3,000 souls fifteen years ago now has 15,000. The number of officers and gendarmes has not increased. It is paradoxical, but that is how it is!
There is indeed a recent law that requires towns with a population of over 5,000 inhabitants to establish a police station, but they forgot to indicate the number of officers that this official should have, and, in many places, there are police commissioners who are alone, yes, without an officer... This is to say that the law is ineffective.

In Enghien, Corbeil, Pontoise, Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, Aulnay, Neuilly-Plaisance, Méry-sur-Oise, etc., burglaries are increasing; the gendarmes and police commissioners are getting agitated, overwhelmed, powerless to take the offensive against the army of crime.

How can we be surprised after this by the audacity of a gang like that of the Poles?

PIERRE DEMOURS.