French Court of Auditors fines officials over failed police software

The French Court of Auditors (Cour des comptes) has fined six individuals a total of 18,000 euros following the failure of ‘Scribe’, a software program designed to assist the police in drafting criminal procedures.

Launched in 2015, the project was intended to be a shared tool for both the police and the gendarmerie. However, the gendarmerie withdrew from the project early on, leaving the National Police Directorate (DGPN) in charge of project management. After six years of mismanagement, the program was terminated. The court identified a ‘serious collective fault’ involving failures in oversight, organization, and project management.

While the specific financial loss related to the immediate failure is estimated at just over 30 million euros, a previous 500-page report from the Court of Auditors estimated the total colossal failure cost at 257 million euros. The six sanctioned individuals include two former police directors and two former secretaries-general of the Ministry of the Interior.