Thanks for pointing out that law. I did not know about, although now that you mention it, it does ring a distant bell. I think we agree but are talking from slightly different perspectives.

I guess what I am trying to say is that, drawing general conclusions from a single case should not be used as a basis for generalizations or concern. It is more important to look at how the police community reacts to this incident and draw conclusions from that. If they express the type of fear that you proposed, there should be a further discussion on how to avoid that in practice. This basically means a political/societal discussion and maybe some changes in the legislation.

Just out of curiosity; do you know if the French police have publicly stated that sort of concerns?

I find this important as it is crucial that anyone with authority and a license to use force to enforce laws, should be accountable of what they are doing. We can look at counries like the US or Russia to see how things can end up, if this is not supervised properly.

In this particular French case I would still return to the need to make a case-by-case review of what happened. If a car is fleeing, use of LETHAL force should always be the last option to take. It might be justified if a car was speeding or driving overtly recklessly. However, if you have car driving at a walking speed, you could for example shoot the tires and not the driver (i know it is not as easy as it sounds, but that seemed to have been case with this shooting).

Breach of authority must be surveiled and sanctioned. If this causes systematic problems, then those need to be fixed by changing the system.

How would violating journalistic principles help someone build a reputation?

If the name leaks, the leak can be subject to criminal liability and civil damages, hence no reputable and attackable source would publish it to general access.

Do you think more than maybe a tiny fraction of french employers would read obscure online forums, or be involved in organizations, where such a name might circulate? i find that highely improbable.

Your article shows that the problem is the "tough on crime" approach that led to deteriorating relationships between the people and the police. It further says those to be vital to be able to identify and arrest suspects of serious crime, which in turn leads to polices inability to police murder in Baltimore. That no police officer was convicted after the dead of Gray further eroded those relationships

So the article emphasises, what you seem to argue against. It is crucial for the police to be able to effectively take its role, that the police itself is properly policed and violations by police officers are met with consequences.

To get back to France, killing someone in a traffic stop certainly will not help to build relationships and trust between the community and police.