Blurring the police : what the article 24 of the French “Global Security” law may prevent you from seeing
By: Charles-Henry Groult
Tags: France, Investigative Journalism, Journalism, Police Brutality

Inspired by the French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, the proposed law on “global security” (published in October 2020) wishes, in its article 24, to create a new offense.

The dissemination, by any means, of “the image of the face or any other element of identification” — with the exception of the RIO (registration number) — of a police officer or a gendarme in intervention, would be punished by one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros, if intervening with the aim of undermining his “physical or mental integrity”.

In a few words, this proposed law would make it illegal for non-journalists to publish or show police forces photos without first blurring them.

Using videos to incite hatred or violence (against the police or any citizen) is already prohibited in France and punishable by one year of imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros. As expressed by a group of journalists unions, the vague notion of the “aim” of undermining “physical or mental integrity” runs the risk of “a completely different reality”. “There is indeed much to fear that on the ground, the police officers, who already very often oppose, including by force, to the photo and video recordings — however perfectly legal — of their operations in the public space, feel more justified than ever in hindering them” ,notes the collective.

To better measure the impact of article 24 on journalistic work, on the right to inform (and to be informed), here are some practical examples, taken from the work carried out by the Le Monde’s video team since 2019.

Civic images and journalistic investigations

In October and December 2019, Le Monde published two video investigations on police violence, in Bordeaux and Paris.

They revealed:

What happened to the protester Olivier Beziade, targeted by an illegal LBD (Blast ball) shot. Mr Beziade is hemiplegic since. One of the police officers was indicted for “willful violence with a weapon”.

How an illegal tear gas canister shot made protester Manuel Coisne lose an eye.

Other police misconducts have since been documented by Le Monde, in short-form videos : the brutal (and fatal) arrest of the delivery man Cédric Chouviat, and a short range Blast ball shot, in January 2020.

None of these videos would have been possible without the hundreds of images captured by journalists, protesters, NGOs and witnesses. These are precious images that medias can collect, authenticate, cross-check and analyze.

These amateur images make it possible for journalists to document precise actions and decisive elements, that could not be verified otherwise.

Zooming in, we identified the type of a thruster and we revealed that is was used non-proportionally.

Smartphones and cameras not only capture images, they also offer precious location and timeline information (EXIF data). Any smartphone that films is also a GPS, a clock…

Banning non-blurred images would mainly prevent live video broadcasting. Neither Facebook nor any mass-market mobile app offers an automatic face blurring option. However, these “live videos” are often the most precious documents for establishing the truth.

They make it possible to follow long sequences of time without interruption (we saw many live streams during the 2018–2019 protests). They can be used to synchronize various images and audio files. Like here, where two videos from distinct sources have been synchronized using vehicle noise.

In one of our investigations, amateur-footage show not only a disproportionate attitude of a police officer, but also a climate of high tension (stone-throwing by some demonstrators, as seen below) five minutes before. The more images there are, the less unambiguous or manipulable they are.

Blurring the police, anonymizing the RIO (identification number)… Le Monde’s visual investigation team is already doing it. We also blur some protesters. But we do it by choice, a posteriori, once the investigation has been completed. Revealing facts without targeting an individual means letting justice do its job.

Like several other editors, Le Monde asked for the outright withdrawal of this article 24. As Jérôme Fenoglio, Le Monde’s director, writes, “the quality of information will never improve when it’s primary condition is restricted : freedom”.