Two CCTV cameras, Illustration – P.MAGNIEN / 20 MINUTES
- According to Valérie Pécresse, the cameras installed under his presidency would have made it possible to increase by “20 to 30% the rate of elucidation of crimes in public transport”. These crimes are also, according to her, identified today at 30% thanks to video surveillance.
- The president of the Île-de-France region also indicated that she wanted to use facial recognition in public transport “to identify wanted terrorists”. A use which, according to her, would already be in force in French airports.
- 20 minutes verified these claims.
Candidate for re-election, the president of the Île-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse, has a series of “shock” proposals in the field of security. In an interview given to
Figaro, Tuesday, June 1, the elected official shows her willingness to make greater use of video surveillance to fight against insecurity in transport, including by using artificial intelligence and facial recognition.
The theme of security, which is not, however, a regional competence, seems dear to the former adviser to Jacques Chirac, who boasted of having increased the rate of elucidation of crimes by “20 to 30%.” In transport thanks to the cameras installed under his presidency. Still according to the president of the region, these crimes are today detected up to 30% thanks to video surveillance. His entourage specifies 20 minutes that the candidate refers to “flagrant offenses captured by video surveillance in public transport”.
We have scrutinized these claims.
FAKE OFF
Where do these figures come from, and are there specific studies on the role of video surveillance in the detection of crimes or the resolution of investigations? “Not to my knowledge”, indicates Dominique Legrand. As president of the AN2V (National Association of Video Protection), one of the main structures that advocate for the development of cameras in France, he would nevertheless be well placed to know it. “It is obvious that video surveillance helps in the resolution of crimes and misdemeanors, but there is no evaluation study on the subject, because it is almost impossible to affirm that video surveillance is the only cause of the resolution of a mischief, ”he explains.
Figures “out of the hat”
Valérie Pécresse’s teams explain to 20 minutes the origin of these figures: “Valérie Pécresse and Frédéric Péchenard [vice-président de la région chargé de la sécurité] on April 22, visited the operational security coordination center, located in the premises of the Paris police headquarters. It was during this visit that the Paris police prefect, Didier Lallement, and the deputy director of the regional transport police presented the figures for video protection. According to the prefecture, a third of arrests in the metro are due to video protection and video protection increases the clearance rate by 20 to 30%. “And to add, on the subject of the absence of documents and studies making it possible to cross-check these statistics:” These figures were therefore presented orally […] and we are not aware at this stage of their publication. “
Solicited by 20 minutes, the police headquarters did not wish to speak. But a well-informed police source denies the existence of such data. Comment from Dominique Legrand, AN2V: “These very convenient figures seem to me rather out of the hat in the middle of an electoral campaign. “
No, facial recognition does not identify terrorists at airports
What about the use of facial recognition at airports? According to Valérie Pécresse, the latter would already make use of this technology in order to be able to identify “wanted terrorists”. It’s wrong. As pointed out by our colleagues from France Info, if facial recognition is indeed being tested in several French airports, it is not intended to compare the faces of passengers to the wanted persons file (FPR), which lists in particular the persons on file S. Called Parafe, this experimental facial recognition system actually makes it possible, on a voluntary basis, to facilitate border controls by verifying that the passenger’s face does indeed correspond to the photo visible on his biometric passport.
