S'opposer ou se servir

EnglishThe April 14, 2011 police custody reform represents an unprecedented situation of one-third penetration into what was previously a police lock-up: suspects now have the right to receive a lawyer’s assistance during police questioning, although his or her power is legally limited. In practical terms, this reform means that police know-how, skills and autonomy are now subject to the control of these legal professionals. Drawing on a four-month ethnographic survey of several police services, this article proposes to observe whether and how police officers are uniting against this reform. Admittedly, there is a speech of spontaneous rejection of the lawyer by the police. However, the opposition between police officers and lawyers is not fixed, but depends on the positions that police officers and lawyers occupy in their respective institutions and the differentiated uses they make of police custody. francaisLa reforme de la garde a vue du 14 avril 2011 constitue une situation inedite de presence d’un tiers dans ce qui constituait jusque-la un huis clos policier puisqu’elle autorise la presence de l’avocat aux cotes du garde a vue pendant l’interrogatoire policier, meme si sa marge de manœuvre est juridiquement limitee. Les savoirfaire, les savoir-etre et l’autonomie policiers sont desormais soumis au controle de ces professionnels du droit. A partir d’une enquete ethnographique dans plusieurs services de police, on observe « si » et « comment » les policiers font corps contre cette intrusion d’un tiers. S’il existe bien un discours policier de rejet des avocats, les frontieres entre ces deux groupes professionnels ne sont pas pour autant figees. Elles dependent des positions des policiers et des avocats dans leur institution respective et des usages differencies qu’ils font de la garde a vue.