Suspicious packages in the metro have long been the fear of the RATP.
And not just because the prospect of an attack is frightening.
The management of what the authority now calls “abandoned objects” indeed represents a real headache on a network with seven million daily trips, where the trade-off between the safety of travelers and agents and the fluidity of traffic is not always obvious.
Today, the RATP claims to have found the right formula.
And use it more and more often, as suspicious packages reported in the metro have risen 12% since October, a rise that continues into November.
"This is the case after each attack: our agents and our travelers are more vigilant", explains Stéphane Gouaud, director of security at RATP.
The explosion, so to speak, in the number of suspicious packages, dates from 2015-2016, where we reached 3.5 daily reports on average, just on the metro and RER A and B. The procedure Often imposes traffic interruptions, and in this case, on the RER A at rush hour, for example, "chaos quickly".
Security or regularity?
Hence the double need "to increase safety while quickly relaunching traffic", summarizes Stéphane Gouaud.
Two imperatives that are not incompatible, he assures us.
However, trade unions recently denounced the opposite.
Unsa Traction and the Base have, in particular, reported a subway executive who would have taken the decision to open an abandoned backpack without following the procedure.
"This zealous leader has chosen between security and regularity", regrets Laurent Mauduit, subway driver unionized at the Base, who pleads instead for a "strengthening of the human presence" in the metro.
At the management of the RATP, it is said to have recalled the rules in force following the attack against Samuel Paty in mid-October.
A guide was distributed to 45,000 employees, 27,000 of whom are in contact with the public.
“The rule is when an object or behavior is suspicious, you have to alert, and not tell yourself that someone has done it before,” explains Stéphane Gouaud.
"In all cases we check"
Behind the scenes, vigilance therefore remains maximum.
“The metro has always been a target,” recalls the director of security.
At the security office at the RATP headquarters, Gare de Lyon in Paris, the surveillance process is well established.
Frédéric Boulay, supervisor, has access from his post to the network's 15,000 CCTV cameras.
If an officer or policeman spots an abandoned object, it is his post that is called.
The package becomes suspect if its contents cannot be verified.
In this case, the security staff can go back on the videos to see who deposited the object, and already get an idea if it looks like an oversight or if it is suspicious.
"But in all cases we check," insists Stéphane Gouaud.
Explosives sniffer dogs to the rescue
And to go faster in the verification, the RATP, like the SNCF for its part, has a tool that has become essential: explosives sniffer dogs.
These dog teams, now around twenty, were first tested from the end of 2016 and have made it possible to considerably reduce the time taken to “clear up doubts” when faced with a package.
Handlers and dogs are placed at strategic locations in the network and can be called in to help, and even use scooters if traffic is interrupted, to get to a station.
Within seconds, the specialized dog sniffs the package and detects whether there is a risk or not.
In case of doubt, the deminers of the police headquarters are called.
Fortunately, despite five or six "positive olfactions" from the dogs, "we never found a bomb", reassures Stéphane Gouaud.