Introduction.

Summary What is the purpose of inspection? Over the last few years, each scandal has raised this question. Whether it is a question of lasagne fraudulently stuffed with horse meat, the maintenance of Mediator on the market by the health authorities, or the use of an offensive grenade by the police that caused the death of Rémi Fraisse, the inspection is systematically called upon to shed light on the events, their causes, the failings of the services or even the faults of individuals, the possible responsibilities and the conclusions to be drawn. Its mission is to collect new information that will reveal the causes of a serious dysfunction within a field of public action. In this context of crisis, the criticisms directed at the inspection focus on its probity and denounce its partiality, questioning the ability of inspectors to issue a word independent of their supervisory authority and / or those they inspect. Thus, in the summer of 2019, the drowning of Steve Maia Caniço after a police intervention on the day of the Fête de la Musique in Nantes led to the referral of the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), in order to investigate the course of events and to determine whether police violence had taken place. The conclusions of the IGPN report, published in the press, were strongly criticized on the grounds that, since the police were both judge and jury, it was hardly surprising that they exonerated the police of all responsibility. In response to the mobilizations, the Prime Minister, claiming his "desire for total transparency", commissioned the Inspection générale de l'administration (IGA) to conduct a new investigation, the scope of which was extended to the public authorities and the organizers of the event. Although exceptional, this situation shows that criticism of an inspection service does not delegitimize the use of inspection as such. [First paragraph].