• The Urban Supervision Center will support the rise in CCTV cameras, which will drop from 31 currently to 45 at the end of the year.

  • The municipal police force must also reach 45 officers by the end of the term of office.

  • The police will also be equipped with lethal semi-automatic weapons in the coming weeks.

There is no "particular increase in delinquency in Pessac," says one on the side of the municipality.

But the events of urban violence that erupted on the night of December 31 in the Châtaigneraie district left their mark.

“That evening we came across individuals who really wanted to do battle,” recalls Serge Helaudais, director of security, safety and prevention at the city of Pessac.

They attacked the physical integrity of the police, national and municipal, since a vehicle had been set on fire with three agents inside… ”The police had managed to flee and there were no injuries.

Of course, it is not this event alone which convinced the mayor Franck Raynal (various right) of this city of 60,000 inhabitants in the suburbs of Bordeaux (Gironde), to accelerate in investments in security.

But a little more than six months after this outbreak, he inaugurated this Wednesday in turn a new municipal police station in the center of the city, and especially an urban supervision center (CSU) which will make it possible to make a leap in video protection.

"We hope to do more flagrante delicto"

Pessac was already equipped to date with 31 video surveillance cameras located throughout the city. “But we could only view the facts after the fact,” explains Serge Helaudais. The CSU, which will operate from Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 1 a.m., will allow the cameras to be monitored live, and the three agents behind the screens will be in radio contact with the field agents. We will therefore be able to follow individuals in the event of a report, and we hope to do more flagrante delicto. We will also have many more requisitions from the national police, which is normal. "Responsible for this CSU, Julie Le Ster specifies that" we will be able to direct and inform our colleagues in the field according to the situation. "

From 31 cameras, the city of Pessac hopes to increase to 45 by the end of the year, including dome cameras, equipped with four fixed cameras and another that rotates 360 ° and allows impressive zooms.

“But beware, we are strictly prohibited from filming inside buildings, which are grayed out or blurred when the camera passes in front, insists Serge Helaudais.

We can only film public space.

The recordings are kept for fifteen days, unless a judicial police officer is requisitioned to come and retrieve one, as part of an investigation.

Implementation of video tagging

The city of Pessac will also take advantage of this new equipment to set up video over-marking (remote verbalization) announces the mayor Franck Raynal.

“This will allow us to identify dangerous and offending road behavior, and to punish them.

»Some cameras are used specifically for reading license plates.

On the ground, the situation is also changing for the municipal police.

Today equipped with pedestrian cameras and electric pulse guns (PIE), the 31 municipal police officers will see their arsenal reinforced within a few weeks by semi-automatic guns for each of them.

“The trainings are in progress” indicates Franck Raynal.

The municipal police "have become new arrivals in many situations"

“There was a demand for several years, explains Serge Helaudais, because the municipal police force which operates until 1 am has become new arrivals in many situations, which exposes us more”.

"All our weaponry will obviously only be used in the event of self-defense," explains Richard Maffre, chief of the municipal police, "but depending on the type of threat we have in front of us, we need a correlated weapon".

That these announcements and these inaugurations, occur the day after the Beauvau de la Sécurité, is a "pure coincidence of the calendar" assures the mayor of the city.

“But it shows our concern for daily safety.

"

The minibus of the social center of La Châtaigneraie burned down at the beginning of the week

Elected for the first time in 2014, Franck Raynal recalls that he increased the municipal police force "from eight officers at the time, to 31 today and 45 by the end of the term", and that 'he installed the very first security cameras in the city "in 2015."

In short, the concern does not date back to December 31st.

"The situation in our neighborhoods has not deteriorated particularly, he assures, moreover, but we must remain attentive because the points of deal and regroupings have not stopped.

Two days ago the minibus from the social center of La Châtaigneraie was set on fire.

This is why I had announced that I will endow the Châtaigneraie-Arago district with a brigade of specific islanders, which will come into operation in the coming weeks.

"

A municipal police station should also be inaugurated in this district by the end of the year, or early 2022 at the latest.

Bordeaux

Bordeaux: Faced with the outbreak of urban violence, mayors of the metropolis want to change gear

Miscellaneous

Bordeaux: Hooded and armed, dozens of young people from rival gangs clashed on Sunday evening

  • Bordeaux

  • Weapons

  • Urban violence

  • Security

  • Local police

  • Aquitaine