By the Olympics, 50 of these agents will be deployed. They will not be equipped with firearms, but will have telescopic batons and tear gas canisters.
The president of the Île-de-France region Valérie Pécresse presented on Thursday June 27 the first agents of the regional transport security brigades who will be deployed on the network in addition to agents from the RATP and the SNCF. “For network security, there is a lack of brigades that could be sent to places where major incidents are occurring, either recurring, or which are very serious, to secure the area”explained the regional president, who also chairs the Île-de-France Mobilités transport authority (IDFM).
Ces brigades “will be intended to be posted in a station where there is traffic, street vending, where the lives of travelers are particularly ruined”, she added. By the Olympics, 50 of these agents will be deployed, in crews of three. Unlike their colleagues in rail security for SNCF (Suge) or GPSR for RATP (Network Protection and Security Group), they will not be armed, but equipped with telescopic batons and tear gas bombs.
100 agents by 2025
By 2025, IDFM plans to deploy 100 agents. They are employed by the private security company Aeneas, which has signed a four-year contract with IDFM, and must all be trained to intervene in transport, including a module on gender-based and sexual violence. “The harassment of women on public transport, no one dealt with it before, we considered that if it happened, it was like that, it was life. Well no, that’s not life”said Valérie Pécresse.
The use of private companies to ensure transport security has been authorized since 2016 in Île-de-France. Transport operators such as SNCF or RATP employ around a thousand in Paris and the greater suburbs. “When I arrived at the head of the region (in 2014), there were 2000 security agents in public transport, there we increased to 3000, and we will increase by 2028 to 4000”said Valérie Pécresse.
A law on transport safety was also to be voted on in the National Assembly at the end of June, for adoption before the Olympic Games which will begin on July 26, but the dissolution brought parliamentary work to a grinding halt. It was to authorize officers to pursue offenders on public roads or to conduct pat-downs.
