“The images will serve as evidence”, TCL agents now equipped with pedestrian cameras

Snatching thefts, verbal or physical assaults… Everyone agrees that delinquency has clearly increased in public transport in Lyon. “As everywhere in France, the situation has deteriorated since the first deconfinement”, notes Bruno Bernard, the president of Sytral.

To “regain control” and fight against this upsurge in violence, the network operator has decided to equip its 250 agents with pedestrian cameras. Twenty-one have been acquired to date. Seventy more will arrive by the end of the year.

Calm the spirits

“For us, it will be a plus that can help calm things down and avoid daily aggressions”, rejoices Pierre-François Héritier, control officer and captain. According to figures communicated by the TCL, two thirds of controllers suffer at least one assault per month.

The camera, which aims to calm people down, will be activated as soon as the shift starts, without however filming continuously. But in “case of concern”, when officers are faced with aggressive or outnumbered travelers, they can trigger the machine by pressing the button twice. “This makes it possible to record 30 seconds before,” adds Pierre-François Héritier. The accused will be warned beforehand, however, the law requires.

” Double-edged “

“It is often our word against the word of the users. This time the images [filmées à 180° et en HD] will serve as evidence. They are like a great lawyer, an inflexible judge ”, estimates Alain Peyrache, head of the control and intervention department on heavy modes within Keolis, specifying that the videos will be systematically destroyed after three months if they are not required in as part of a police investigation.

But for José Rodiguez, another controlled agent, the use of these cameras can prove to be “double edged”. “They can have the opposite effect. We can see it on the ground, some recalcitrant users go to extremes when we pronounce the word police, he says. If they have common sense, they will calm down. Otherwise, they risk being even more aggressive… We will see the effectiveness of these cameras over time. “

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