On January 11, the mayor of Marseille announced the creation of a new municipal police station on Canebière. Tuesday January 16, it was the turn of the Police Headquarters to present its new strategy to strengthen security in the city center. Indeed, despite the good figures shown by the statistics – drop in burglaries and shootings, doubling of arrests in the fight against drug trafficking – the feeling of insecurity persists: “We cannot oppose the figures to the feelings of traders and passers-by. It is our duty to take them into account”says the police chief Frédérique Camilleri during a press conference organized at the Noailles police station, alongside the public prosecutor Nicolas Bessone and the new interdepartmental director of the national police Cedric Esson – who took up his new role in January 2024.
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If we cannot help but think that this sudden enthusiasm for security in the city center can be explained by the imminent holding – next May – of the Olympic Games in Marseille, the prefect makes a clarification: “This plan was not only developed with the Olympic Games in mind, even if the measures it puts in place will serve us well for this event. It will last beyond that. I will have the opportunity to reveal later a specific device for the Olympics. »
New brigade dedicated to the city center and mobile police station
Among the key measures announced by the police headquarters, the creation of a brigade dedicated to downtown Marseille. Already experienced since the beginning of the year, the “Specialized Field Brigade (BST) day”, its name, is made up of ten police officers who will patrol on foot throughout the city center, more particularly in the Noailles sector in order to “to occupy the land” facing street vendors. Their main mission will be to contact traders and passers-by to report possible problems, but also to reprimand acts of incivility: abandoned garbage, music that is too loud, etc. This action will complement the CRS patrols, whose mission priority will be oriented towards the fight against deal points.
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The other main measure announced by the prefect is the establishment, to complement the action of the BST, of a mobile police station, in the form of a van which can travel to the most problematic sites, including the Pressensé sector, towards the Puget hall, where the activity of dealers almost closed the Colbert faculty of Aix-Marseille University in October 2023.
Street sales on rue d’Aubagne, in the Noailles district of Marseille (credit: MG / Archives Gomet’)
Indeed, among the priorities cited by the prefect, three « points noirs » come back: street vending, therefore, but also drug trafficking, very intense in the city center. “Where there are consumers, there are dealers…” comments Nicolas Bessone. Finally, on the judicial police side, the prosecutor wants to fight more effectively against road incivility and relies on the penalties of confiscation of the vehicle or seizure of equipment. Road checks should also be strengthened.
Frédérique Camilleri : « We are always more efficient »
Frédérique Camilleri recalls the contributions of the Marseille en grand plan, which enabled the strengthening of the national police force in Marseille with the arrival of 450 new agents, divided between public security and the judicial police. “For three years, we have created new brigades. From year to year, we are always more efficient. We manage to cope with the necessary means” defends the prefect when asked about possible shortages of personnel in the national police, despite recent arrivals.
She nevertheless specifies that these numbers should be further reinforced with the new graduating class from the national police academy. On the judicial police side, on the other hand, prosecutor Nicolas Bessone is less enthusiastic. He hopes for an upcoming increase in numbers to support the recent police reform, which came into force in January: “The benefit of this reform is that the judicial police can deal with street vending as well as score settling. I hope that this new organization will provide more resources for investigation. This better organization must be accompanied by an increase in staff numbers to act more efficiently. » Indeed, the reform mentioned places all national police forces at the same level under the aegis of an interdepartmental director, Cédric Esson.
Nicolas Bessone and Frédérique Camilleri (credit: JRG / Gomet’)
Note that on orders from the Ministry of the Interior, the brigades on the ground in the city center will be reinforced by border police forces, in order to fight more effectively against irregular immigration. “Today, 67% of delinquency in Marseille is committed by foreigners” explains Frédérique Camilleri, who specifies however that it is not possible to know whether the foreigners are in a regular situation or not. The objective will be to step up controls in the city center of Marseille and, in the event of an irregular situation, place them in an administrative detention center or initiate a procedure for return to the country of origin.
New video surveillance cameras deployed in the city center?
The PN forces will also have to coordinate with the municipal police, who will set up in a new police station on the Canebière, a few meters from the Noailles police station. “Anything the town hall can do to strengthen security is positive. We will need to develop coordinated approaches, for example with a view to joint patrols. Our idea of a mobile police station is also part of a logic of local security,” comments the prefect, who recalls, however, that the areas of action mentioned – fight against drug trafficking, street sales – fall more within the competence of the PN.
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Police headquarters and town hall are also working jointly on the wider deployment of video surveillance in the city center, a municipal responsibility. So, “dozens, even hundreds of cameras must be installed soon”, says Frédérique Camilleri. As part of the Marseille en grand plan, a goal of 500 additional cameras is being targeted, in addition to the 1,600 already existing.
Useful links :
> The police headquarters tests its security system before the high mass of the 2024 Olympics
> [Sécurité] Marseille doubles the entry quotas for the municipal police competition
> Our news in Marseille
2024-01-17 08:32:07
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