During the last municipal council, an agent presented to elected officials the brand new equipment available to the municipal police: 4 body-worn cameras and a speedometer.
As an introduction to the municipal council on Friday November 29, 2024, Christophe Legros, municipal police officer of Saint-Just-en-Chaussée, presented to elected officials the equipment recently acquired for their mission.
First of all, 4 body cameras, one for each agent on duty, which will film interactions with passers-by. “It’s becoming more than essential. Nowadays, we have to deal with increasingly vindictive people during our interventions”he warns. “Until then, the cameras our agents had were not approved and could not be used by the courts“, adds Bernard Dubouil, mayor of Saint-Just-en-Chaussée.
Fight against excessive speeding
The other device now present in the equipment of the municipal police of the commune is a cinemameter. A purchase worth €7,000 which can be explained by excessive speeds recorded by the educational radars located at the city entrances. “I realize with dismay that vehicles enter the town at 120-130 km/h. Motorcycles sometimes go 144 km/h. And we could say that these are speeds recorded at 1 a.m. but no, it’s in the middle of the day”says the first councilor.
In fact, this speedometer will be able to control vehicles from 700m away thanks to its laser. “The goal is to stop them and with the device, drivers can no longer question the officer's word. For the moment, there have been no verbalizations and we plan to be tolerant. There will be a margin of 15 to 20km/h above the speed limit”. The objective therefore being to control larger excesses.
“We are not here to issue excessive fines but in complete peace of mind for people who go well beyond the authorized speed”agrees Bernard Dubouil who also promises to continue to equip his municipal agents, evoking bulletproof vests for example. “We give them the necessary means to do their job”he concludes before starting to list the council's points which were almost all voted unanimously with the exception of that relating to the renewal of the wind farm, the only deliberation which led to a little debate in a more than wise municipal council.
New wind turbines in Saint-Just-en-Chaussée?
Bernard Dubouil presented a point relating to the renewal of the wind farm. “The national Rhône company CNR owns the Croisette-Quinquempoix wind farm made up of 13 wind turbines, including 2 on the territory of the municipality. A site commissioned in 2012”recalled the first city councilor. One of the operator's partner companies plans to replace and modernize this equipment. “We don’t want an additional wind turbine and that’s not the subject. We are talking about more powerful wind turbines, of the same height and which would be further away from homes.” With the exception of Pascal Frazao who preferred to abstain, all elected officials adopted this renewal.
Once the agenda was completed, the first councilor opened the question session by giving the floor to Yveline Desmedt Cazier. And it was a small sentence, pronounced by the latter, which caused a few waves in the assembly during the final meal.
Packages too small?
Tuesday, November 26, 2024, seniors were invited to the Opus room to collect a package filled with good things. “I was asked for a tax cut because the package was smaller this year.” A reflection which did not please the first councilor especially since this year 964 packages were distributed to residents aged 65 and over.
“If they don’t like it, I can also suggest that they don’t take it. Several municipalities have simply stopped giving out packages to save money. In Saint-Just, we continue and what's more, we haven't increased taxes for years for noble reasons, the first councilor defends himself.
We are tightening the bolts everywhere because we have to manage to get the budget through. People say the package is too small, I say we can give some to everyone. It's the same for the canteen, the cost of food has practically doubled but we have not passed it on. These are only harmful criticisms and we have nothing to be ashamed of what we are doing.”
“We only hear those who speak loudly”abounds Patrick Convers, his 1is deputy. A remark which was then forgotten during the round table, before coming back to the forefront when the date for the seniors cake was announced, scheduled for January 19. “To avoid bad rumors, I hope that the slice of cake will be the same size as last year”concluded the first councilor.
Emeline Bertel
