OPINIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE FRENCH CGLPL the Public health code). As a result, inspections of the establishment do not provide the guarantees of independence of those carried out in the other departments. Finally, as it does not fall under the category of hospitals covered by article L.  3222-4 of the code, the psychiatric infirmary is not visited by judges of the competent courts and, in particular, by the State Prosecutor’s Office. Certainly, the Chief of Police emphasises that these visits are carried out de facto. They are not, however, guaranteed. In these conditions, it would not seem feasible to suggest that the orientation decisions taken are done so with all the necessary assurances. The provision raises doubts over the distance between considerations of public order and medical considerations. At the same time, it is not a matter of placing responsibility for this doubt on the professional conduct and commitment of the doctors and medical staff, who do not incur criticism. But why is the competent assessment of a pathological situation connected to a police institution? Herein lie the conditions of confusion in the delicate matter of the deprivation of liberty for psychiatric reasons, which need to be eliminated. It is argued that the establishment provides a welcome emergency medical service, which in particular can deal with incidents of violence. Yet, besides means of physical restraint being increasingly employed in this service, it is pertinent to question whether its affiliation with the Paris police headquarters does not increase the outbreaks of violence among certain patients. In any case, only 41% of patients are hospitalised by court order after their stay at the establishment: therefore, they are not all violent. In any event, while the psychiatric infirmary of the Paris police headquarters was unparalleled at the time of its creation, more than two centuries ago, this is no longer the case today. Ordinary hospitals ensure care of the same nature: in Paris, hospitals receive a much higher number of psychiatric emergencies than the psychiatric infirmary - approximately a one-to-eight ratio - which is, moreover, unprecedented in any other French urban area. That is why it is recommended that the Government makes the transfer of assets from the psychiatric infirmary of the Paris police headquarters to the ordinary hospital service possible, without of course modifying the health certification competences attributed to the Chief of Police and the police superintendents. 76