Damage, illegal dumping of rubbish, burglaries… Miscellaneous incidents of petty and medium crime very often lead to the installation of video surveillance solutions, particularly when they are recurrent and concern private property.

Most of the time, these devices are implemented at the request of the population or local actors, but in Argelliers, it is the municipal team that is at the initiative.

Perfect parity between supporters and resisters

"We wanted to question the inhabitants of the town, by organizing a referendum, on the need or not to set up cameras in various places in the village. We also needed to know if these devices aroused reluctance or local opposition “, explains Bernard Tremoulet, first deputy mayor, in charge of the project.

After analyzing the results, "we have counted 37 votes in favor of this project and 37 votes against, i.e. a perfect equality, which does not allow us to validate the generalization of this equipment", underlines Thierry Aillaud, deputy in charge of communication at the within the municipality.

Among the refractory, a majority of the inhabitants of Argelliers believe that delinquency is minimal within the village. What's more, the system is expensive, but the municipality is already a member of the "Veignifying neighbors" scheme.

Proponents of cameras consider, for their part, that these devices are necessary to ensure the safety of children, especially around sports areas. Others specify that the cameras would make it possible to fight against burglaries.

Following this survey, the municipal team wanted to re-examine the project, by locating these devices at a few sensitive points (tennis, parking, etc.) "The objective being, above all, to maintain the tranquility of the inhabitants and the municipality, but also to reassure the local population and ensure their safety," said the mayor.

To be continued…

Midi Libre correspondent: 07 68 15 40 69