Two out of the four police officers that were detained because of presumed police violence inside the police station of the Gare district could be set free soon. The public prosecutor’s investigation as well as the General Police Inspectorate’s investigation (IGP) are still ongoing.
The Police minister Henri Kox did not want to give further information on this case during his interview this morning, to respect the ongoing investigation. However, he hopes that this incident will soon be cleared up and that there won’t be any cases like these in the future.
Now, he wants to learn from this incident and he has created a task force on the matter. The minister wants the different police stations to become more resilient to these types of situations. For example each station should have a mix of experienced and younger officers. He also underlined that he is recruiting more new police agents than his predecessor did until 2013.
Last week the daily newspaper “Le Quotidien” (article in french) wrote about the reorganisation of the police station of the quartier de la gare, and about a system that was put in place where new recruits had to prove themselves first. About those, the Minister knew nothing. Also, to him, the fact that some police officers put down their guns had nothing to do with their frustration or an act of protest.
The well-being of all the police officers is the most important and he and the general direction of the police want to guarantee that.
He stated that assaults have increased among the general population and that he wants to tackle this issue. Of course, the rights of each and every one need to be respected and this is taught at the police academy. While the minister has recruited a bigger number of new officers, they also got new resources to work with such as bodycams.
Interview in Luxembourgish:
