To find out what is told in a town, nothing beats to push the doors of the local troquet and sit at the counter. But when it is closed, the bakery also serves as a place of chat. And in that of Iffendic (Ille-et-Vilaine), a small rural commune located west of Rennes, we speak a lot at the time of burglaries. “People are afraid, especially the elderly, and everyone is careful,” says Laëtitia, the manager of the place. For the past few weeks, the small town of 4,600 inhabitants as well as neighboring patelins face an unprecedented wave of burglaries. “I have been mayor for twenty years and there have never been many,” says Christophe Martins.
It started in early spring with flights from individuals in the middle of the day. “They completely cut my neighbor’s fence to steal his garden furniture and his barbecue,” confirms the florist. The following days, the crafts of craftsmen were also targeted as well as several businesses including the small supermarket, a hair salon and the crêperie.
“It was almost every two days at one point,” said Christophe Martins, who was already the victim of three burglaries and had to install an alarm system while he lives “in the countryside. “Before, you never closed its door to key but rural areas are now as affected as cities by burglaries,” said the elected official of the Radical Left Party.
“I do not open to anyone in the evening”
In the town, this disturbing series of crimes arouses a lot of stir. As with its three retirees who take advantage of the generous sun of this end of April on a bench. “It’s sad because it’s very calm here usually but there it does not stop,” says Odette. I hope that the gendarmes will quickly challenge the authors but in the meantime, I do not open to anyone in the evening. To reassure his flocks, Christophe Martins and some elected colleagues now patrol the night by car in the affected areas. “I was not elected mayor for that and it is much nicer to celebrate a marriage but it is also part of our missions,” he says.
Christophe Martins does not intend to replace the gendarmes, accused by certain inhabitants on social networks of doing nothing to stem the phenomenon. “I am not a sheriff or a vigilante and I will not stop the burglars, warns the elected official. I just patrol certain nights to see if there are no people who prowl or to raise the plates of vehicles that seem suspicious. »»
Public lighting rolled at night
To hear it, its action has nothing exceptional. “I am not the only mayor to turn in his town at night, it often happens in small municipalities or in the countryside,” he said. Like so many other elected officials, Christophe Martins also resolved to install four video surveillance cameras in his town. “Not only for burglaries but also for tags, wild waste deposits and all these incivility that uses the inhabitants,” explains the councilor.
In a few days, he will also give public lighting at night he had cut several months ago for economic and ecological reasons. “I am not convinced that it will have an effect but if it allows at least to reassure the inhabitants”, concedes the mayor, who would especially like that this wave of burglaries ceases. Just like the baker. “We have just left Rennes a few years ago after being the victim of a burglary so we did not come here to relive this,” says Laëtitia, who “crosses our fingers” so as not to be the next on the list.
