From 2007 to 2009, Rémi Dussert and Stéphane Guinard followed the daily lives of Parisian police officers in the 18th arrondissement Goutte d’Or station. Both firemen and photographers, they wanted to show the working conditions of these men and women whose professional activity is often criticized.
Rémi Dussert writes: “So who are these cops? People doing a job they consider ordinary in a neighborhood that isn’t so ordinary. Many have a cold hard vision of their reality, a bit like forensic scientists. They know about the fine details of human nature, after observing it all day and night long. They can talk to an old drug addict who is no longer part of the living but is not yet dead either. It is often the case, during a drug hold up, to talk about his life as a vagabond, his treatments, his fears. When you think about it, who else talks to prostitutes and drug addicts? For these cops, it’s just part of the day’s job. They do it naturally, as if it were part of a package deal along with their weapons and their badge. Men and women who goof off, go to the Quick or McDonald restaurant to eat in 15 minutes on the edge of their desk because legal affairs are always a race against time, whether they be large or small. Men and women who send drug dealers to jail as a way to calm the neighbors afraid of their domination. So who are these cops? Just normal people, with a very consuming daily life, pragmatic, with a vision of their neighborhoods and an analysis of the problems they meet there that are particularly incisive.”
