employees escorted by security guards between the RER and their offices in the Rosa Parks district

Many companies are located in this district on the border between the 19th arrondissement of Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis. Several of them have decided to call on security guards to accompany their employees to reassure them in the face of the many crack users.

Obviously, their presence is reassuring. In the Rosa Parks district, located in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, it is not surprising that there are many employees rushing to work. The twenty or so mobile, identifiable security guards, on the other hand, yes.

The measure, implemented since 2019 by several companies, whose offices are located at the Parc du Millénaire in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), aims to support employees of the public transport station until the door to the premises.

The presence of crack users

What worries the societies, which have come together in a collective, are the crack users. Their employees, coming on foot from the RER E station, must travel 750 meters to their offices. On the latter, they take a bridge, but above all skirt the “North Linear Forest” garden, closed and abandoned by the public, but popular with crack users.

“It reassures me, it’s obvious, now that night falls earlier in the evening,” admits an employee at the microphone of BFMTV. Another nods. “It’s reassuring, especially when we arrive at Rosa Parks where it can be a little tense.”

Posted everywhere along the route from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., they are able to intervene if a problem arises. “They do security, they travel on electric scooters if there is a fire to get to the site more quickly,” says one man.

The Ministry of Justice sets up shuttles

Among companies, BNP Paribas has chosen to call on these security guards. The company “is in contact with the authorities and at the same time takes all the necessary measures to strengthen the safety of its employees,” she tells BFMTV.

Other employers are taking additional measures. This is the case of the Ministry of Justice, two sites of which are installed on the premises. For its 3,000 employees, it offers a so-called “motorized” escort.

“There are also shuttles for the Ministry of Justice which have been set up and which accompany the agents to transport,” specifies Cédric Logelin, spokesperson for the ministry.

But he specifies that the initiatives are not the work of the ministry alone. “All these security measures are carried out in conjunction with the Paris police headquarters and the local police station.”

In the neighborhood, in addition to these security agents, numerous surveillance cameras are installed.