The President of the Ile-de-France Region, Valérie Pécresse, has just launched this Thursday, June 27, the new regional transport security brigade. After completing a 35-hour training course, the agents will be deployed on buses, trams and train stations in the Ile-de-France region between this summer and the beginning of 2025.
It was a wish of the president of the Ile-de-France Region, Valérie Pécresse. A new regional transport security brigade will soon be deployed on buses and trams, but also in front of and inside bus stations in Ile-de-France.
The presentation of this new brigade took place at the agent training center in Villepinte on Thursday June 27, with a stated objective of maintaining order on the Ile-de-France network.
“For network security, there is a lack of brigades that could be sent to places where major incidents occur. We need to have brigades that are on the move and we also need to have brigades that are sometimes stationed for weeks at the same site,” said Valérie Pécresse.
This regional security brigade will reinforce the 3,000 Ile-de-France Mobilités and RATP agents already present on the ground. The first part of this brigade, made up of 50 agents, will be deployed before the start of summer. 50 additional agents will be involved by the start of 2025.
Specific 35-hour training
The particularity of this new team is that the agents undergo 35 hours of training, in addition to their security agent diploma, specializing in supporting and securing people using public transport.
During this training, officers are made aware of how to manage crises such as verbal and physical attacks or even drunkenness situations on public roads.
“Our agents intervene to secure boarding and disembarking, securing drivers and people traveling on buses. We are dealing with a certain amount of delinquency which will concern violence against women and recurring cases such as public drunkenness , which is one of the most important issues in our field of activity”, detailed Eric Drillet, training director of the Aenas group.
“Weapons of deterrence”
The new agents will be equipped with telescopic batons and tear gas dispensers. A first in the Paris region’s transport system. To hold these weapons, they must also undergo a second 35-hour training course.
A necessity, according to the president of the Ile-de-France Region. “The problem is that today, we are obliged to arm our security forces and give them bullet-proof and blade-proof vests. They have chosen their own weapons which are completely adapted to a confined space like transport. They are weapons of deterrence, but we need them.”
However, their skills remain limited. These new agents will not have the right to check the identity of travelers or remove an individual against their will without the presence of a police officer or gendarme.
Agathe Albouy with Emma Forton
