CCTV cameras to be tripled
The government says communes equipped with cameras have slashed crime rates by half and boosted detection.
INTERIOR Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie has promised to triple the number of CCTV cameras on public streets by the end of the year.
The number is expected to increase from 20,000 to 60,000. Ms Alliot-Marie says that towns that have cameras are often able to double the rate of detection of street crimes.
Towns with CCTV also typically see a drop in crime.
“Over the last five years, in the context of a general tendency to lower crime rates, the amount of crime has dropped nearly twice as fast in areas protected by cameras,” said Ms Alliot-Marie.
In Orléans installing cameras has seen street crime drop by 58%. The councillor in charge of security, Florent Montillot, said their €1.9 million network would even save money as it allows them to pay less insurance on public buildings, which are no longer vandalised, and phone costs, as public services use the cameras fibreoptic network to make calls.
In Hauts-de-Seine the council says cameras have even helped uncover fraud cases – where a person has taken money out of their own account then claimed it as stolen, or burned their own car to claim insurance.
Across France, 300 communes have cameras installed (about 1%), though this is expected to rapidly rise to 500.
Out of these, 120 have monitoring centres to which images from around the commune are relayed, linked up to the police and gendarmerie. The state is helping fund installations like these.
