Pickpockets in the metro: complaints can now be filed at 256 stations

The tourists will undoubtedly be less numerous this year in Paris ... But the pickpockets of the subway, them, are likely to be always present. Before confinement, the phenomenon had been steadily increasing in recent months (+ 32% over the first nine months of 2019).

To help victims, often foreigners, who find themselves helpless in this situation, the RATP will generalize, from this Wednesday, the possibility of filing a complaint directly, in 256 stations of its network in Paris.

This system began to be tested in six stations in August 2018, before being extended to 49 stations in January 2019. “At the end of 2019, more than 300 complaints were received at the 49 stations and stations concerned. Saint-Michel, Opéra and Châtelet were the sites where the complaint registration was the most important and 51 nationalities were concerned ”, indicates the RATP.

Only in intramural Paris for now

The objective is to "facilitate the procedures of victims and the work of the police," said the RATP. The filing of a complaint in a station clearly targets the victims of pickpockets, since it concerns "robberies without violence and without the possibility of immediately identifying the guilty person, and whose damage does not exceed 1,000 euros".

For the moment, the 256 stations where this is possible are all located in intramural Paris. All metro lines and RER A and B in Paris are affected. The system is the result of an agreement signed between the RATP, the police headquarters and the Paris prosecutor's office. For suburban stations, "discussions are underway to sign partnership agreements with other Paris prosecutors to be able to generalize" this system, specifies the RATP.

> Find the complete list of stations where you can file a complaint in the event of theft