• In La Grande-Motte, municipal police officers are testing, for the first time in France, pedestrian cameras that film their interventions live.
  • Until then, videos were recorded and then slept on a server.
  • This technology allows, in particular, to send reinforcements if the video feed shows his colleagues that a municipal police officer is in danger.

Smile, you are being filmed. In France, the first pedestrian cameras were tested in 2013. These small objectives, set on the vests of the police, make it possible to film the interventions, and to bring evidence, to justice, in case of threats or violence. At the initiative of the police or gendarmes, the sound and image of the operations are recorded and then kept for 30 days. But the technology of these small devices is evolving. And the law, too. In La Grande-Motte (Hérault), with the agreement of the prefecture, municipal police officers are testing a new generation of pedestrian cameras.

Until then, videos were recorded and then slept on a secure server. For the first time in France, the pedestrian cameras used in this seaside resort broadcast a live video stream. The sound and image captured from the chest of municipal police officers are sent, in real time, to the Urban Supervision Center (CSU) of La Grande-Motte, which brings together the streams of video surveillance cameras in the municipality.

"Dispatch reinforcements", if the policeman is in danger

"It is not, however, systematic," Jean-Michel Weiss, the head of the municipal police of the commune, told 20 Minutes. Depending on the severity of the situation, the municipal police officer may decide to press a button, and send the video feed to the CSU. As with traditional pedestrian cameras, this device makes it possible to record and keep a filmed record of the interventions of the agents, when the operations escalate. And, sometimes, to defuse conflicts, when red is activated. But now, CSU police officers can follow the work of their colleagues remotely, in real time. Like a mobile CCTV camera.



"The fact of sending the image and sound at the moment T, it allows the video operator to see that the police officer is in danger, for example, and to send reinforcements, continues Jean-Michel Weiss. Without the municipal policeman having to ask for reinforcements with his radio. In addition, as soon as a new generation pedestrian camera is activated, at the Grande-Motte communal video station, the municipal police officer is immediately geolocated, and video surveillance cameras appear on the screens, to provide his colleagues with more elements to assess the urgency of the situation.

Possible since a decree of November 2, 2022

These pedestrian cameras were created by the company Axis. The system, in La Grande-Motte, was set up thanks to the company Ineo. "This is a real technological innovation, which has a real interest in the safety of police officers," notes the chief of the municipal police of La Grande-Motte. But its use remains marginal, he says. Since they are equipped with pedestrian cameras, the municipal police of La Grande-Motte, a rather quiet seaside resort, press the button "only once a month, on average". "We are not threatened, insulted or attacked every day, fortunately."

In La Grande-Motte, this experiment has been possible since the promulgation of the decree of 2 November 2022, which regulates the use of pedestrian cameras by municipal police officers. According to Article 4, "images captured and recorded by means of individual cameras may be transmitted in real time to the command post of the service concerned (...) when the safety of officers or the safety of property and persons is threatened". However, officers are required by law to inform offenders that they will be filmed. "Except in situations where municipal police officers would not be able, due to exceptional circumstances, to warn people," says Jean-Michel Weiss. In a case of domestic violence, you enter the apartment, you have to intervene right away, you don't have time, for example. »

At La Grande-Motte, Jean-Michel Weiss, very committed to innovation, wanted to be the first to experiment with this new device. The seaside resort, already, had been a pioneer, in the remote access of registration files and driving licenses or radars to detect pedestrians who do not respect the lights.

  • Society
  • Hérault
  • Occitania
  • Languedoc-Roussillon
  • Municipal Police
  • Security
  • Camera