Incivility and hostile acts against parking agents are on the rise. A Geneva contract worker testified Thursday in 7:30 p.m. about the insults he heard after fining a motorist.
Pierre Susini is one of 80 parking agents in Geneva. He has been roaming public parking lots for nine years and “catching” the people at fault. Irate violators are part of his job. “I don’t even take it. I throw it in the trash,” says a motorist to whom he hands a 40-franc plum.
Gluing a log may be an unwelcome mission, but Pierre says he is fed up with it, because the invectives and brutality are increasing. To illustrate this tendency, he recounts this experience with a motorist in the old town: “I held out the fine and, sorry for the terms, he started to tell me that I was an asshole, that I didn’t understand anything, that I was an idiot, a failure…” And blurted out: “Behind the uniform, there is a person.”
These hostile acts have become very difficult for our staff to bear.
Privacy affected
Sometimes also, officers are physically attacked. And this incivility has doubled in Geneva over the past two years.
The Parking Foundation calls for calm and has launched an awareness campaign. “We have reached a level of more than one hostile act per agent per week,” says Damien Zuber, the foundation’s general director. “These hostile acts have become very difficult for our staff to bear. This affects their private lives and causes absenteeism. This also requires us to put in place psychological support measures for staff,” explains- he.
At the same time, the Parking Foundation now announces zero tolerance for hostile acts. “The filing of a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office will be systematic. It is a commitment by the employer to protect its staff,” continues Damien Zuber.
We realize that the power of the uniform is diminishing and that people are increasingly willing to attack our staff
Same observation in Friborg
In Geneva, surveillance is managed by an autonomous body, under mandate from the canton. In other cities, Friborg for example, it is the local police who are responsible for controlling parking.
But in the town of Zähringen, we draw the same observation as at the end of the lake. Philippe Fragnière, the local police chief, reports “calls of birds, insults and threats”.
“So far, there has been no physical attack. But we realize that the power of the uniform is diminishing and that people are more and more inclined to attack our staff,” he said. he.
In Friborg as in Geneva, it is difficult to understand the phenomenon. In both cities, the number of tickets handed out did not increase.
TV subject: Thibaut Clémence and Valentine by Dardel
Web text: Antoine Michel
