Six CCTV cameras have recently come into operation on Place du Bayaà, in Salies-de-Béarn. Mayor Thierry Cabanne welcomes their deterrent effect and announces around forty additional cameras within two and a half years. They will be installed on municipal buildings in the city center. Thierry Cabanne ensures that this plan was prepared with the support of the gendarmerie to put an end to “continuous degradation and incivility”. Why so many cameras for a small town of 4700 inhabitants? The elected explains that it is due to the town planning of the medieval center with tall houses and alleys difficult to cover with a limited number of points of view. Thierry Cabanne also specifies that the images from these cameras will only be viewed only on requisition of the gendarmes in the event of an investigation.
The Salisiens, who for the most part discover this project, are divided on the need for this video protection. “It’s quite reassuring. It’s not because we are in a small village, there are also things going on. I’m all for it”, explains a passerby. Place du Bayaà, a young woman, a resident of Salies, however, does not see the point. “It’s really fucked up, she says for a small village like Salies. There are no more thefts or fights than elsewhere. We are in the countryside here.”
As for the municipal opposition, it regrets the absence of consultation and debate on such a subject. Laurent Sainte-Cluque believes that the project is “completely disproportionate and unjustified. To believe that Salies is a city of serious crime”, explains the elected opposition member who sits on the security commission. “It’s a very bad message that is sent by the majority, according to him. We will believe that it is Chicago.”