“Security isn’t just about cameras, it’s also about men on the ground,” according to the Montpellier security official

The elected official promises increased numbers this summer, especially in the evening. Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART

Great Sunday interview with Sébastien Cote. Video surveillance, video recording, fight against parking fraudsters, police numbers during the summer, delinquency… the 8th deputy mayor of Montpellier answers our questions, without tongue in cheek.

How many video surveillance cameras is Montpellier equipped with ? And what is your policy on the subject ?

Currently, we have around 380 cameras compared to 310 before our mandate. Our policy is very clear, we install around twenty new ones each year. We define the locations by combining data from the national police, the requests of local residents and our own needs, as a community. What are our schools, our collective facilities (swimming pools, media libraries…). Not to mention that civil security must also be satisfied with a certain number of low points, such as rue de Lantissargues, which means that homes are very quickly underwater in the event of heavy rainfall.< /p>

To return to the national police, with whom, it must be emphasized, we work hand in hand, in four months, we had 164 video requisitions, which is more than 650 per year, or almost two per day. To this, we must add the alerts from our urban supervision center (CSU) which works 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

It’is an essential tool. Moreover, within the security hotel which will be delivered in 2027-2028, in place of the former Celleneuve slum, and in which we will bring together everything that contributes to security , from the point of view of the City and the Metropolis, we will pool TaM's cameras and ours. And, ultimately, we will propose to the municipalities of the metropolis which are interested to set up a metropolitan CSU. Note that three architects have already been selected. The final choice will be made next October.

What about the cars that fine parking fraudsters, decried and described by some as “sulphating PV” ?

La TaM, which is our delegatee, has five. These are Lapi (automated reading of license plates). This only concerns parking with a parking meter. If you have not entered your license plate, you will be flashed. But this is not a fine, it is a post-parking package (FPS) at 35 €.

On the other hand, the PV is not automatic, there are 30 to 35% that jump. Why ? Because all the photos are seen and analyzed by CSU agents. You have just parked and you are next to your car and the agent will automatically delete it. You have your trunk open, ditto.

Bio express

Né In 1972, Sébastien Cote marriedé and father of two children, a 23-year-old girl and a 20-year-old boy who are currently studying. A historian by training, he is a teacher in preparatory classes at the Joffre high school. Originally from the South-West and more particularly from Dordogne, he arrived in Paris. à Montpellier in 2001.

He committed himself to politically and met Michaël Delafosse at the start of the 2010s. In 2020, when he expected ’ receive the Education portfolio, it is the delegation on Security (protection of the population, public tranquility) which was given to him. assigned. A mark of recognition when we know that security is a priority. is, for the mayor, a priority.

In addition, when you receive your FPS, you can still contest it by appealing to the operator and TaM accepts 95% of appeals (application out of service, time clock broken & ;hellip;). The interest for us in the Lapi system is to avoid sucker cars. We want rotations for traders. And if you ask me the question of why the cars have tinted windows, it's because the drivers have been victims of attacks and violence. ;intimidation.

Besides this, there is the video verbalization, carried out by our CSU agents, which is in the criminal domain, with violation of the key resulting from annoying or very annoying parking: we park on a sidewalk, a track cycle path, in front of a garage… There were more than 10,700 verbalizations during the first quarter of 2024.

Thefts with violence, feelings of insecurity, people using illicit products or psychologically fragile… Are you worried about the atmosphere in today's society?

By 2022, delinquency had fallen, sometimes even by double-digit percentages. As for 2023, it was complicated. However, when we look at ourselves, we feel sorry but when we compare ourselves, we are not so bad. All you have to do is look at the figures from Le Parisien which ranks us 23rd most dangerous city in France while in terms of population, we are 7th.

We are a society that is more violent, it’is linked to illicit products, marginalized people, bladed weapons…

Now, the reality is that we have a society that is more violent. This is linked to the polyconsumption of illicit products (medications, narcotics, alcohol…) and to psychological distress which is not very well taken care of in France, due to lack of resources. And that’s very worrying. In two, come the marginalized, not all of course but still. And the third subject is the proliferation of bladed weapons.

With the Olympics, the summer promises to be tense for law enforcement. How does your municipal police approach it??

We are lucky in Montpellier that all of our events will have taken place before the Olympics since the last one will be the fireworks on July 14. We are not a seaside resort, we do not have a big festival and, in August, generally, it is quite quiet in the city center but also in the neighborhoods where people are returning to the country.

And we must say that the national police will still have people on the ground and will be able to count on our agents. As far as we are concerned, as in previous summers, we will increase the numbers, particularly in the evening. To this must be added twelve additional personnel, from June, who will swell the ranks of the metropolitan transport police. The security of a city is not just cameras, it is also men on the ground.

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