Press Interpreter

02/07/06 –- Cameras, together with more human presence, have to increase security on the Brussels public transportation network.

The Brussels minister of Mobility, Pascal Smet (SP. A), has yesterday announced that all buses, trams and underground carriages of the public transportation company MIVB will receive cameras. Currently, one fifth of the vehicle park are equipped with these. In the recently bought 68 trams and 140 buses, which are going to be delivered in March, cameras are standard equipment. The same applies to the 15 underground carriages arriving from 2007 on.

This means that during 2007 more than 40 percent of the vehicles will be equipped with cameras. “It is the purpose to equip all vehicles with these in the long term,� says Pascal Smet, “even though I yet cannot put a date on this.�

Smet does not find it an argument that cameras would be a violation on privacy. “These images will only be examined by qualified policemen, and only in cases of incidents, so to identify the criminals. Consider that something happens and there are no cameras: then everyone will blame us that.�

There are also cameras hanging in the underground stations, 731 in total. In 21 stations the images are being recorded. In the others, the images are being investigated selectively. Before end of year, all 68 stations will receive recording equipment.

The images are forwarded to the commanding post of the federal railway police at the Rogier underground station. Yesterday, this commanding centre received extra monitors and better communication channels, in order to work faster and in a more efficient way.

According to Smet, cameras are not enough. He will increase human presence in about 30 underground stations. These so-called mezzanine-agents will be present in the station between 6 pm and midnight. They do not have police authority, but can call attention to problems.

The MIVB has already 200 security agents. 150 of them are allowed to conduct searches, to use hand cuffs and spray.

The investments in security are not being executed because Brussels public transportation would be very dangerous. Smet: “Last year, a 1650 cases of aggression were registered by the MIVB. Security people or police had only to intervene in about a hundred cases. However, every incident is one to much. If public transportation is to attract more people, then it has to be comfortable and safe.� The MIVB transported in 2005 255.3 million passengers, an increase of 6.7 percent compared to 2004, and an increase of fifty percent in five years.

The Flemish transportation company De Lijn is investigating if cameras on all its buses and trams is desirable and, more importantly, affordable. A camera with recording equipment costs € 7,500 on a bus and € 11,500 on a tram. To date, De Lijn has 70 cameras as part of an experimental project.

[Full article]

By Tom Ysebaert

--Translated by Serge Claes

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