DGSN: 21 Moroccan Anti-Gang Brigades By 2023
Since 2018, the DGSN has provided nine cities in Morocco with an anti-gang brigade, the last of which has just been inaugurated on June 15 in Marrakech.
A high-level police source revealed for Médias24 the missions and usefulness of these new units in the fight against petty and serious crime which will be generalized to all 21 prefectures of the national territory between 2022 and 2023.
The ninth of its kind after the pilot sites of Sale and Fez where it obtained very convincing results, this experience was then duplicated in Casablanca, Rabat, Agadir, Tangier, Kenitra, Oujda then Marrakech.
The BAG is more like the French BAC (anti-crime brigade) whose mission is to patrol the streets to carry out flagrant offenses or to assist other brigades such as the BRI (research and intervention brigade) on large operations.
Each Moroccan anti-gang brigade has 160 to 170 police officers with an average age of 30, and each is divided into several groups made up of a fixed number of elements depending on the size of the territory. Thus, a megalopolis like Casablanca which has many districts will require more intervention groups than a city like Marrakech which has much fewer inhabitants.
“Regarding the resources allocated, each element is equipped with a tactical outfit (protective vest and helmet) as well as modern vehicles (motorcycle, car) facilitating rapid interventions in the field”, said the officer.
Asked about the Moroccan meaning of the term gang, the member of the DGSN explains that it is a legal name to define a group of people who act in concert to commit a crime.
The Officer concluded that “the real purpose of the anti-gang is to be a strike force available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week against small but also serious crimes, in case of need.”