the essential
Late Friday afternoon, a public transport security operation was set up between the Toulouse and Montauban stations by the national police. A railway security team was also present.
On the eve of the school holidays, four police officers from Montauban joined a rail security team, also made up of four members, at Villebourbon station. There, random checks were carried out by the police, at the request of the public prosecutor. Leaving from Toulouse, another team of five Toulouse police officers was in charge of also carrying out checks inside the train itself.
“Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we will have a lot of departures, especially by train,” predicts Bénédicte Martineau, the chief of staff of the prefect of Tarn-et-Garonne. An influx which fully justifies the current operation.
Objective of such a system: to carry out “identity checks, but also research, in particular the search for narcotics and the search for offenses that can be observed on trains”, she explains. .
Safe fellow citizens, insecure delinquents
And added: “It is important that the police, the security forces, in general, make themselves visible. On the one hand, to reassure the population, but also because when potential delinquents see police officers or gendarmes, that slows them down. Visibility is also being visible to the delinquents. These are operations that are carried out regularly, she adds, “during the day, but also, and above all, at night. But it is important to also do it during the day so that there is no moment when the delinquents feel safe. We, fellow citizens, are always safe, but the delinquents must be insecure when they see the police, the police or the gendarmerie,” insists the chief of staff.
Photo DDM, E.L.
In total, more than a hundred checks were carried out by police officers on trains and at stations, says Captain Gau, head of the interdepartmental public transport security service in Toulouse. As for rail security, it notably carried out 97 visual inspections of baggage. “If offenses are identified, action is taken either by writing a fine, or by presenting them to the judicial officer, and why not to the public prosecutor,” explains divisional commander Thierry Guérin, director deputy of the national police in Montauban for Tarn-et-Garonne.
This Friday in any case, all the people checked were in order and were able to continue their journey without incident.
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