We have just filed an litigation statement before the Conseil d’État (French supreme administrative court) against the extension of the scope of the file of the “Système de contrôle automatisé” (SCA; Automatic Control System). Since April, this file allows retaining for 5 to 10 years information concerning any violation or offence that leads to payment of a fine. We are attacking this Nth criminal file.
The SCA — a.k.a. ADOC, for “Access to the record of crimes” — is a criminal file that was designed, before April, to record driving offences. In April, during the lock-down, the government abused this file to keep information about failure to respect the lock-down obligations. The police and gendarmerie proceeded to use it to identify recidivists to imprison them
Because at the time the legal framework didn’t permit retaining information other than driving offences, the legal procedures have been overturned and the involved people freed.
No matter. Because the courts scolded the police for using this file illegally, the police — through the Homeland Minister — changed the legal framework. And that is how, since mid-April 2020, any violation subject to a fine will be recorded in this file for 5 years (for simple violations) to 10 years (for more serious offences).
Other than this ugly method unworthy of a state of law, this highlights the disturbing way of keeping track of the population. No only are the infractions covered trivial
Because of this file, police impunity must once again be denounced. The government goes against the state of law to reach its goals: put people under surveillance, send them to prison, and repress them ever more harshly. It is firmly established, nonetheless, that such police files always lead to abuses — the TAJ or drones are only two examples in a sea of arbitrariness.