In Brittany, why burglaries exploded in 2022 – Bretagne
There have never been so many homes burglarized in Brittany. According to the results of the statistical service of the Ministry of the Interior (SSMSI) published this week, 8,155 break-ins were recorded in the region in 2022, i.e. almost one burglary every hour. While a decrease in the number of dwellings visited had been observed over the past two years, the rebound has been spectacular.
SSMSI figures show a 41% increase in incidents in Brittany between 2021 and 2022 – far more than for any other French region. However, the number of incidents reported to 10,000 inhabitants remains much lower (4.2) than Île-de-France (7.9) or even Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (7.5) . Not enough to sink into paranoia, but such an outbreak raises questions.
What do the burglary figures correspond to?
The annual report of the SSMSI is established from two types of data: facts recorded by the police and gendarmes (complaints, reports, etc.) and victimization surveys, which make it possible to enrich the facts recorded by the forces of the order, since the victims do not always lodge a complaint.
Several factors
To try to explain this phenomenon, we questioned, several weeks ago, Colonel Sébastien Jaudon, boss of the gendarmes of Ille-et-Vilaine. “We have to be careful because we are comparing figures from 2022 with 2021, a covid year when there were periods of curfew, he tempered. Finally, we find a level of burglary that is slightly higher than 2019, the last reference year. According to him, this significant increase is partly explained by the increase in the population in the department over the period.
Today, the government’s main fight is narcotics
For David Leveau, policeman in Rennes and regional secretary of the SGP police FO union, this observation is rather the consequence of a political choice. “Today, the government’s main fight is narcotics. We have to make numbers and, as a result, the vast majority of colleagues are working on this. Unfortunately, when you neglect a part of crime such as the fight against burglary because you are not able to do everything, it increases mechanically”.
Elusive Networks
In the field, the police and gendarmerie are also experiencing new difficulties in the face of the evolution of the practices of criminals. “We have offenders who act very quickly, confides Frédéric Gallet, secretary of the Alliance union in Ille-et-Vilaine. They immediately go to bedrooms and bathrooms. They are looking for jewellery, cash, telephones, computers… things that are easy to take away. “” Burglaries are now done at any time of the day, abounds David Leveau. We have people today who are no longer afraid of anything. They adapt to alarms, they always find new solutions. »
Perfectly organized, these channels are extremely complicated for investigators to pin down. “We have a lot of networks that come from Eastern European countries, confides the trade unionist SGP police. These are bands that tour all over Europe and international cooperation is limited. We are almost dealing with real companies, they invest resources and are extremely well organized. We manage to arrest petty thieves but it’s hard to arrest network leaders. »
Contacted to comment on this explosion of burglaries in their departments, the prefects of Ille-et-Vilaine and Morbihan did not wish to speak while Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, must soon speak on the subject. Communications at a more local level are nevertheless planned in the coming days.
letelegramme Fr Trans
