How could some hunters have new police powers in France?The weekly Chassons.com newsletter

The president of the National Federation of Hunters (FNC), Willy Schraen recently proposed to invest the departmental federations of hunters (FDC) of new powers in terms of local police in order to contribute, under the control of the State andmayors, prevention and monitoring of rural areas suffering from the lack of police numbers.As a introductory basis, contrary to what some authors have been able to write, it is underlined that there is no question of proposing to entrust to all the fighters of the police prerogatives.

However, the FDC have development agents who are approved and sworn in order to note, by trial, the offenses relating to the departmental hunting management diagram, the hunting plan and the license to hunt, on all the territories of the department of whichThe owners and holders of the right of hunting are members of a federation, unless previously trained by the latter (article L.428-21 of the environment code).These agents also ensure the application of the departmental hunting management scheme which, in application of article L425-3 of the environment code, is enforceable against hunters and companies, associations and hunting groups of the department.

It would thus be to increase the skills of these development agents, employed by the FDC, and to extend their power to see, for example, all environmental offenses in the same way as the environmental inspectors of theNational Biodiversity Office (article L.172-1 and following of the environment code).In doing so, it could be conceived that the mayors, the desire, can decide to accept and assert the development agents of the FDC so that they can intervene on their territory in order to note these offenses.Obviously, such a development could only take place as a result of a legislative modification.

Indeed, any delegation of police power to a private person is prohibited, whether unilateral or contractual.The mayor can neither delegate the exercise of police power to a private person, nor place police forces under the authority of private persons.

To be continued…

Aymard de la Ferté-SénectèreAvocat Buès & Associés