The Court of Auditors asks the Ministry of the Interior and the Paris police headquarters to better regulate the use of video surveillance cameras in the capital and denounces their "
inappropriate and expensive
" financing, in a summary made public Thursday.
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In this summary, addressed to the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, the Court of Auditors makes six recommendations.
Several relate to the public-private partnership contract signed in 2010 to finance the "
video protection plan of the Paris police headquarters (PVPP)
".
Valid until 2026 and initially concluded for 225.1 million euros, the contract reached 343 million euros at the end of 2020, due in particular to the explosion in the number of cameras installed in Paris after the 2015 attacks (from 1,000 to 4,000 cameras).
An estimated cost of 481 million euros with the Olympics in Paris
With the 2024 Olympics, its total cost could amount to 433 or even 481 million euros, continues the Court, which calls for "
outlawing
" the use of this type of contract and its "
unsuitable and costly
" method of financing.
the future.
The institution also recommends to the prefect to carry out "
without delay an evaluation of the effectiveness of the PVPP in the prevention of delinquency and the elucidation of offences
", while the geographical distribution and the uses of the cameras "
could be improved
".
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The cameras are concentrated in the "
central districts of Paris and the main axes of circulation (...) and not in the most criminogenic areas of the capital
", points out the Court.
“
There is thus less than one camera per 1,000 inhabitants in the 15th and 20th arrondissements, against more than eleven in the 1st and more than nine in the 8th arrondissement
”.
It also calls for the “
urgent
” strengthening of the internal control of the PVPP in order in particular to better detect non-compliant uses of video surveillance and asks the Ministry of the Interior to renovate the legal framework “
today unsuitable
” in this area.
Questioned by AFP, the Ministry of the Interior and the police headquarters have not responded for the time being.