This is the new trend in Paris, spring-summer 2020 collection: for a few days now, on images from video surveillance, used in various files by the police, the surgical cap and mask look has been all the rage.
"Scarves, hoods, it works in winter, summer in general, thieves find it harder to walk around without being recognizable," admits a police officer from an anti-crime brigade in Paris. Normally they only cover themselves a few seconds before their plan, or not at all. But with the health crisis, they found the right vein, health masks, it is a working tool that makes them difficult to identify and they can wear them everywhere, all the time. "
"We also wear masks and they pay less attention to us"
Weaned by victims on the public highway for several weeks during the confinement, some teams have been redoubling their activity since mid-May. Robbery of bags and necklaces is increasing. In Paris mainly, but also in the near suburbs. "We have seen them come back, especially since this week", recognizes a police officer who works in public transport security who also uses the advantage offered by this mask: "We have never committed as many flagrant crimes as these days. Because we also wear masks and they pay less attention to us when we approach. Then, out of my last ten pickpocket cases, nine guys wore masks. Between their flights, they just change their jacket sometimes. "
Rue des Frigos, in Paris (13th century), Sunday, a retired couple was the victim of one of these masked groups. In front of their granddaughter, the two victims were brutalized and their personal belongings were stolen. For once, on the other hand, a police officer who had seen the video broadcast on social networks, managed to recognize the alleged perpetrators the next day, when the latter were probably trying to commit a new crime near the market tram stop. from Saint-Denis.
"The luck we had in this affair is that the young people live on the street and they were dressed in exactly the same way the next day," said a judicial source. One of the two protagonists was sentenced to 10 months in prison.
Facial recognition, a key element of investigations
The police recognize that their main weapon is facial recognition. "And if we don't find more elements such as the booty in search or DNA, the lawyers will break our procedures during the hearings, they will rush into the breach by saying that we cannot recognize formally a person with a mask ”, already announces a police officer.
If they know that there is nothing to do against the wearing of the mask, the investigators are afraid of seeing their elucidation rate drop because of this piece of fabric.
"It will be increasingly difficult to identify the suspects or make them confess by confronting them with the images," blows a member of a Parisian PC. Already that most of the cameras are not of good quality, but if you only see the eyes ... And then, we especially noticed facts on the public highway, thefts with the snatch, of opportunity. But even in the case of robberies from businesses, the mask is a new asset for them. How do you want a jeweler, a banker or a tobacco manager to refuse entry to a masked youth? Before, many managers did not open their doors to a client whose face was not visible. Now it's impossible to claim that, for obvious reasons, in the midst of a health crisis. "
Other sources of information remain exploitable
The lawyer Grégory Bensadoun estimates for his part that indeed these masks "make identification more difficult". "But that does not affect the investigative work of the police, which also relies on telephony, demarcation, or DNA research, for example. It is a concentration of clues that allows the involvement of an author. "
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On offenses less prepared than robberies, this specialist of the Paris bar nevertheless recognizes that "the study of cameras and the extraction of a face plays very often" in the resolution of investigations. "We have cases like this every day," he says. I also have a file in progress, where after a diffusion sheet on a vehicle theft in Paris, my client was recognized by a police officer from Val-de-Marne. There was a camera in the parking lot where the theft took place. Then, the investigators brought back 16 other thefts while working on the telephone. "