2024 Olympic Games: the Olympic Village police station ready for use

Le village olympique de Paris 2024. MAXPPP – Vincent Isore

Les effluves de peinture flottent encore dans le flambant commissariat du village olympique qui ouvre ses portes jeudi pour gérer les aléas quotidiens d'"une fourmilière" où cohabitent près de 15 000 personnes.

A few meters from where the athletes live, on the banks of the Seine in Saint-Denis, "an advanced base" of the police headquarters of Paris has emerged from the ground, specially designed for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in order to ensure the security of an anthill of 10,000  at 15,000,000 people per day", summarizes commissioner Matthieu Hervé who shares his premises with the Paris Fire Brigade and the River Brigade.< /p>

"The objective is to receive the public as best as possible, with a dedicated complaints center 7/7, 24 hours a day", explains the officer, seconded from the Epinay-sur-Seine police station.

An intervention time of less than five minutes

Its teams also ensure the security of the "last kilometer" around the Olympic village, located straddling the towns of Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis and Ile-Saint-Denis, with "an intervention time which will be less than five minutes".

Inside the Paris-2024 site, private agents and delegation security officers manage the protection of athletes and staff. The police will only intervene in the event of a crime, misdemeanor or request from the organizers.

#JO2024 | "On pourra leur offrir vraiment le meilleur de ce qui se fait en France."

🏥 La #polyclinique du village olympique prendra en charge les athlètes et les membres des délégations durant les Jeux de @Paris2024 afin de ne pas engorger les urgences. pic.twitter.com/9cxeQgvaIq

— Ministère de la Santé et de la Prévention (@Sante_Gouv) July 11, 2024

Le "first example that comes to mind, and I don't want it to happen", confides commissioner Matthieu Hervé, is that of athletes who "are partying, they are drunk and then we are called for a sexual assault" , he explains.

On site, "there are first actions to be taken, first observations before preventing the evidence from disappearing".

The case is then taken up by the department's judicial police (SDPJ 93) under the supervision of the magistrates of the Bobigny court. In "case of doping", the protocol is similar.

Clothing thefts already reported

If an athlete is arrested, he will be taken to a "holding room"from the police station before being placed in police custody in the police headquarters of Saint-Denis or Saint-Ouen.

Even before the arrival of the first athletes on Thursday from the four corners of the world, clothing thefts have already been reported in the village, says a police source.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Village. MAXPPP – Vincent Isore

Around the site transformed into an ultra-secure bunker, police officers, some of whom come from Seine-Saint-Denis, are waiting"to many economic offenses such as the street sale of products derived from Paris-2024 or fraud with counterfeit notes".

Tourists and cheated residents can also file a complaint at the village police station, with its neat and welcoming decoration. The reception area is elegantly lined with wooden strips and offers a bright view of the Seine.

Rooms to file complaints

Four rooms with state-of-the-art equipment, which would make more than one civil servant jealous, are dedicated to filing complaints.

And the victim will not have to worry if they do not master the language of Molière. Translators are provided for this purpose and the police headquarters has established a partnership with students from the National Institute of Oriental Languages ​​and Civilizations (Inalco).

The Paris 2024 Olympic Village. MAXPPP – Vincent Isore

The "advanced base" of Saint-Denis also serves as " logistics plot" for the 300 police officers assigned to the sector who work 12 hour shifts.

A large rest room is available to them and agents will also be able to recharge their electronic equipment such as pedestrian camera batteries or electric pulse gun chargers.

Also read: VIDEO. Paris 2024 Olympic Games: images of Anne Hidalgo and Tony Estanguet swimming in the Seine nine days before the ceremony

The Olympic Village police station will close its doors on September 13, a few days after the end of the competition. And the Paris firefighters will be the happy heirs of these brand new premises.