sample had not in any way followed up the official instructions, whose form (ministerial document) was far from being trivial. In conclusion, it should be noted that, beyond the differences between the establishments, closely linked to the individual history of each of them, the sources of violations of fundamental rights (in particular with regard to the dignity of persons and the right to defence) result from material difficulties, which budgetary investments and reorganisation of modes of operation, of modest, or even minimal dimensions, should make it possible to resolve: such is the case with regard to cleaning of blankets, cleaning of premises, normal use of showers, confidentiality of questioning and signature of registers etc. Although it is still necessary for internal (police custody officer) and external (State Prosecutor’s Office) controls to be attentive to these questions. 2.2.2 Gendarmerie Facilities The operation of the police custody facilities of the national gendarmerie sometimes differs considerably from that of national police facilities. Although the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure are obviously applicable to them, the instructions, circulars and memoranda can be different: thus the prescription concerning special police custody officers is not applied, since it is customary for the OPJ in charge of each investigation to be personally responsible for the whole of the stages of the period of police custody. Furthermore, the volume of police custody cases is in no way comparable, since the populations of the areas coming under the authority of the gendarmeries, which are for the most part rural, are much smaller than those coming under the national police districts. Finally, the gendarmes, whose facilities are not open twenty-four hours a day, unlike police stations and headquarters, play a greater part in practical tasks48 and maintain relations with the population as the principal objective of their action, which is not without positive effects with regard to the manner in which police custody is conducted. 2.2.2.1. – Police Custody Facilities and Management For the gendarmeries concerning which the inspection reports were brought to the attention of the Interior minister in 2013, a similar exercise has been carried out as for police stations, in order to set out the principal police custody data in a comparative manner. The results are given in the following table. SainteMénehould (51) Varennes-enArgonne (55) Saint-Chéron (91) Tarascon-surAriège (09) No. inhabitants 13,520 2,200 16,000 12,380 Rate of PI 9.6°/°° 11°/°° 7.5°/°° 8.4°/°° 48 For example for the cleaning of “secure rooms”, which are used without distinction as police custody cells and sobering-up rooms. 45