(Lille) Cameras funded by the United Kingdom will soon be installed at “strategic points” on the coast of northern France, near the port of Calais, to fight against migratory crossings to England, announced French authorities local.
Posted at 12:52 p.m.
French municipalities will have until the end of March to apply for funds for these cameras, as part of a project called “Terminus”.
More than twenty municipalities have already shown their interest, they explained to AFP, confirming information from the daily Voice of the North.
The funding “comes from the Treaty of Sandhurst”, concluded in 2018 between France and the United Kingdom to strengthen their cooperation against migratory trafficking. The prefecture (local representative of the State) indicated that it could not immediately “provide an estimate of the amount” that the project will represent.
“Since mid-January and until mid-February, a design office has been traveling” in each of the municipalities concerned “in order to determine the number and precise location of the cameras”, she detailed.
“At the beginning of March, specific projects will be sent to communities to enable them to mobilize British funds by March 31 at the latest,” she adds. An order will specify “the terms of access to the images and the return of these to the police and gendarmerie services”. The British will not be able to access it.
In the coastal town of Wissant, for example, “14 cameras must be installed”, some of which are specifically used for reading license plates, at “all entrance intersections”, explains Mayor Laurence Prouvot to AFP.
More generally, the French authorities have identified “strategic points”, such as road intersections and access points to the sea, generally devoid of video surveillance.