Police president rejects systemic racism claims in wake of Lausanne scandal

Lausanne police scandal: training as a solution Keystone-SDA

“Not all police officers deserve to be pilloried,” said Emmanuel Fivaz in an interview with Le Matin Dimanche. The president of the Swiss Federation of Police Officers (FSFP) was interviewed in the wake of the scandal over discriminatory Whatsapp messages sent by police officers.

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According to Fivaz, “racist, sexist or anti-Semitic behaviour is unacceptable within the police force”. However, the President of the FSFP adds a nuance: “I do see a difference between comments that fall within the scope of the law, or of administrative measures, and a debriefing after an intervention over a drink at the end of a shift, in a purely private setting”, he explains.

Without denying the unacceptable nature of the words and images that were presented to the press at the beginning of the week, he believes that the complexity of the police profession requires a place where people can speak out.

Fivaz points to misdirected loyalty rather than a culture of silence on racism that has been deemed “systemic” by the authorities in Vaud’s capital. He stresses the responsibility of managers in this kind of context. Their role is to refocus the teams.

Dialogue and training

For the FSFP President, training is the key. He also defends diversity in recruitment, hoping that more women and police officers of foreign origin can be integrated. Training should include civic, social and geopolitical education, as well as modules on racism and sexism. Managers must explain social and political movements to their troops.

Fivaz insists on communicating with the public. He advocates transparency in sensitive matters. He also advocates a “culture of error”, enabling police officers to progress not only technically, but also humanely, through concrete feedback.

Trust still the order of the day

With regard to the specific case of Lausanne, the Neuchâtel native points out that only 48 of the more than 500 Lausanne police officers are involved in the WhatApp groups that made headlines at the beginning of the week. “I don’t think they all deserve to be pilloried for playing down the situation,” he says.

Finally, Fivaz is banking on internal dialogue to reduce “the divide that we sometimes feel (…) between the political authorities and the police force”, while deploring that “there is perhaps an anti-police or anarchist ideology, to put it briefly, that is more prevalent in Lausanne than elsewhere”.

He concludes by expressing his conviction that “the majority of the population still has confidence in their police force and will still call 117 when they need help”.

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Translated from French by DeepL/jdp

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