First of all, the Ligue des droits et libertés is very reluctant to support the idea of a judicial warrant for anything involving crimes against the person. We are quite concerned about the notion that a judge could authorize assault, forcible confinement, hostage taking, and other such acts.
However, we have less trouble with the idea of a judicial warrant--and this is only a possible scenario--in order to be able to pinch somebody who was plotting to sell ammonium nitrate. I could also cite property offences or any other crime, whether it's gambling, fraud, etc., which are not crimes against the person.
So, as we stated in our brief, we would like these offences against the person to be removed. This is a societal choice that we're asking you to make. Does the integrity of the person come before the tools police officers need to have?
Indeed, assault could prove to be a very useful tool for police, as could torture. That sounds cynical, but I'm being perfectly objective: in some cases, torture could be a tool. I doubt that, however, because torture always leads to lies about the people we want to arrest. Just because there are tools available that can make the job easier doesn't mean they are acceptable. As far as we're concerned, anything that attacks the integrity of the person is unacceptable. Privacy is another matter. In some cases, such as wiretapping, if it is done properly and if the officer is required to report on it subsequently, that could in fact be acceptable.
As my colleague said, we are slowly but surely providing parameters for police officers and their agents to commit certain acts. In a way, we're providing them with a corridor within which they can act.